Deep Blue Sea
by Blitzindite
Summary: After crashing down on an ocean planet, the five sole survivors of the Aurora find themselves fighting the jaws of dangerous creatures, strange locations, and a bacterium that's slowly killing them. (Septic Egos/Subnautica crossover)
1. Crash

Chapter 1  
Warnings: Swearing, Character Injury, Concussions  
Characters: Chase Brody

(( done as Whumptober Day 2's prompt (explosion) but posted separately from the rest because it kinda became its own thing. day two's prompt was perfect for this idea, so. yeah. have a crossover fic that's completely self-indulgent. posted separately from the rest of the prompts since it kinda became its own thing ))

* * *

Where had it gone wrong?

Why was this happening?

The entire ship had convulsed around him, followed by the red warning lights flashing through the halls and the droning alarms. Chase had nearly fallen into the open hatch of Lifepod Five as he ran maintenance checks when the floor jolted beneath him.

False alarm? he thought as wide eyes set on one of the speakers, PDA held in an iron grip.

The Captain's voice: Strained, through gritted teeth, as he ordered an immediate evacuation to the planet below.

Not a false alarm.

Oh, god.

Chase had to physically shake himself to break out of a frozen state of fear to fumble with his PDA. He swallowed. The up-to-date lifepods were on the opposite side of the ship. His crew hadn't finished with this side, yet. There wouldn't be enough pods for—

Another violent jolt rocked the Aurora.

"What?! No, no, no, no—!"

Frantic tapping. The pods on the other side were down?! These ones weren't ready yet! They weren't up to standard—they could kill whoever…

Where was his crew?

He tried one, two, then a third. None of them picked up. That left…

"Mason? Oh, thank god. Are the others with you?"

"Just…Romero. Don't know where the other two are."

"Why am I not getting anything from her?"

Another voice came over the line, female, "Sorry, boss. PDA's lost. Could barely get outta the barracks myself when the beams collapsed to worry 'bout grabbing it."

"Okay, okay, just…stick with Mason, then. Lifepod, uh…Three, should be all right." At least, one of the better-working ones.

He had no idea how many of these pods would actually survive planet-fall.

"What about the rest of the ship?"

"Worry about yourselves first."

Chase ended the call and fumbled with the clip to get his PDA attached to his hip. He hadn't realized his hands were shaking until the fourth failed attempt.

"Okay, okay, just…deep breaths, Brody." He wouldn't evacuate until he was positive his remaining crew safely made it to a pod. That didn't mean his flight instincts weren't kicking in. God, please hurry, he begged them. Let me outta here.

Footsteps thudding on metal walkways. Three people, but not his crew. CTO Yu, her companion (Berkeley, was it?), and…one of the entertainers? Probably? Yu and Berkeley cut straight for Lifepod Two without so much as glancing at him, while the entertainer hovered. He was still dressed head-to-toe in stage getup and the terror was clear as day on his face even behind the fancy mask. Chase couldn't help but grimace a little at the man's dress shoes; they were definitely going to slip on the ladder into one of the pods. Hopefully he wouldn't hit his head.

"Where..?"

"Uh, Pod…Four." Frantic nodding, and the entertainer clamored into the pod right next to the one it looked like Chase would be stuck with.

The remaining pods started filling, one by one. He even recognized some of the crew: First Officer Keen way down at Pod 19, not yet entering it as he ushered other crew and passengers to remaining pods; one of the off-duty security personnel, a red hoodie thrown on haphazardly and glasses crooked on his nose, in Seven; and…oh, thank god. Mason and Romero were sprinting straight at him.

"The hell is going on?" he hissed as his eyes scanned the remaining pods. Not many left, and yet there were still over a hundred people onboard. "All I've got to work from's the damn evacuation order and the fuckin' ship shaking around us."

"Explosions?" Romero offered. She shook her head. "I don't know, boss. Maybe Keen—" She was cut off by another rumble that knocked them and anyone else still standing on the deck down on the ground. Keen was rubbing at his chin where he smacked it on Lifepod 19's hatch, while Mason cursed and cradled his elbow.

"Pod Three's still open. Get the hell off this ship before none of us make it." He squeezed their shoulders in what he knew could be a last goodbye, then scrambled for Five's ladder.

He was nearly knocked to the bottom of Five when an explosion rocked the Lifepod Bay, barely managing to slide down the ladder and trip toward the chair.

No sooner had the pod jettisoned and Chase could see the Aurora through the pane in the top hatch did the entire ship succumb to a fiery ball as it fell toward the planet's surface. His breath stuttered and hands couldn't figure out whether to grip the harness holding him in his seat or to cover his mouth.

He'd lived on that ship…how long?

Now, he didn't even know who would survive.

He didn't know if he would survive.

Banging from one corner forced him to tear his gaze away from the Aurora'sfalling ruins. The fire extinguisher was shaking on its mount before finally falling away. Chase yelped as it now flew freely around the pod, followed by a loose panel on the wall tearing away.

He hissed and managed to duck once before the extinguisher could knock against his head.

He wasn't so lucky with the panel. While his eyes tracked the heavy extinguisher, the metal panel crashed into the side of his head.


	2. Starting Point

**Warnings:** _Swearing, Minor Head Trauma_  
Characters: Chase Brody  
_POV: Chase Brody_

_(( just a tidbit: Chase's PDA's voice has been replaced with Sean's voice! the other survivors each have a different (non-canon or not appearing in this fic) Septic Ego as their own PDA ))_

* * *

Chase groaned as his eyes fluttered.

Then he coughed.

Then he jolted awake with a start as wide eyes set on the fire overtaking half of the lifepod.

"What?! No, no, no, shit!" He punched at the release for his harness. His frantic tapping was in syn with the headache pounding at his skull.

When the harness released he all but fell out of the chair in a scramble for the fire extinguisher. It was heavier than he remembered.

He continued coughing and wheezing as he put the fire out before throwing the extinguisher to the side and scaling the ladder to throw the top hatch open. Smoke billowed after him as he threw himself down on his back on top of the pod, suppressing a hiss at the bright sunlight.

The pod rocked gently beneath him. All that did was contribute to the nausea he could feel building in his stomach. He forced himself to swallow past it and pressed a hand to the bloody welt in his head. He pushed himself to sit up and squinted down at his PDA as he turned it on. It booted in Emergency Mode, only to immediately go on to tell him he'd suffered minor head trauma.

"Well, no shit," he muttered.

He fiddled with the device for a bit, cursing and mumbling to himself as he viewed the alarmingly limited data it carried in Emergency Mode. Until he made it back to Alterra to have it reset to its original mode, he didn't have any of his old files. He couldn't even check in with his maintenance crew, dammit!

A splash to his right startled him and nearly made him drop his PDA.

When he turned to look, the color drained from his face. He was…he was _surrounded _by water. No land in sight, while the _Aurora's _remains loomed in the distance where it had settled to the ocean floor.

He was stranded. On an alien planet. In the middle of the ocean. With no land in sight.

Chase choked on a sob when it finally hit him.

He couldn't see any other lifepods. What if—no, no. Don't think that way. They were small. Maybe they were just…too hard for him to see?

He could see a sand floor beneath his pod. The middle of the ocean, and he was in shallows?

Little…fish, swam about. They didn't look like any of the fish he'd seen in pictures; with massive eyes that took up a good portion of their bodies, funny shapes. One looked more like a decoration or household appliance than a living creature. Occasionally, one of the eye-fish would jump out of the water. That would explain the splash he heard.

A shake of the head and Chase slide back into the lifepod. Rescue had to be coming, right? It had happened so fast, though… What if the Captain hadn't had time to send out a distress signal? He knew Keen would have done so in the Captain's place, if not for the fact that the First Officer was just as stranded as he was. That was, if Keen had even survived landing. Chase racked his brain for what problems Lifepod 19 had. He couldn't recall, and his PDA was no help in its current setting.

Chase just huffed a sharp breath and sat himself next to the storage compartment. Check your supplies, Brody. Remember the survival training the entire damn crew had to go through.

No air tanks. No swim gear (thank god his work attire was waterproof). He didn't even have a repair tool, scanner, or Seaglide.

Okay.

We'll start from scratch, then.

Chase shuffled toward the fabricator as it prepared blueprints, altering the original ingredients as needed to be materials it detected on nearby areas of the planet.

Huh. So that's how they worked. He'd always wondered how they'd work on alien planets that maybe didn't have the materials the original item blueprint required. It was just replacing materials with the best substitutes, if not altering the print itself entirely.

A survival situation wasn't exactly the way he'd wanted to learn that, however.

He'd tried waiting. Three hours had ticked by. Nothing.

He took a shaky breath as he made sure the ingredients showed up on his PDA, as he glanced to the bottom hatch of his pod.

He'd tried fiddling with the radio and damaged wiring where the panel had torn free, but without a repair tool he was out of luck. He could pull off the repairs just fine.

Just…not with his bare hands, unless he wanted to severely burn them or lose a finger or two.

Then, he'd studied the _Aurora _from atop Pod 5; wondered how anyone still on board could have survived its landing. If they had.

When the shock had faded away, Chase knew it would be a good long while before rescue came. He'd spent one of those three hours trying to calm himself after that realization hit him. They were so far out of Alterra space on this planet. Even when the company realized the ship was down, whether distress signals had gone out or not, it could be weeks—months!—before rescue was able to reach them.

No other option but to start scavenging up supplies he'd need.

He opened the hatch, kicked his feet at the water. Boy, he didn't like this at all. He slipped on a pair of goggles (they were swimming goggles. _Swimming goggles. _As in, meant for the ship's on-board pool and _not _a lifepod's inventory. Where was the damn diving helmet? Or oxygen tank, for that matter?) and grimaced as he looked at the ocean just inches beneath him.

Steeling himself and taking in a gulp of air, Chase slid out of the lifepod.

The water stung the gash in his head. He kicked to the surface beside Pod 5 and placed a hand over it with a hiss. An alien planet. And it had a salt water ocean. That would be just _wonderful _when he needed drinking water.

Diving helmet. He needed one bad. Hey, at least the wound would be disinfected! he thought with a bitter laugh.

"'The _Aurora _will never go down,'" he parroted with a sneer. "Uncrashable my ass."

He checked the materials for an oxygen tank and repair tool on his PDA, replaced it at his hip, took another breath of air, and dived.

Laughter to his left—yes, laughter, he wasn't hearing things—startled him bad enough he swallowed a mouthful of water. He was forced to surface; spluttering and coughing as he treaded water, tried to pinpoint the noise. A large creature with a bulbous tail met his eye. It laughed again and his hair stood on end. There were two others farther away.

Chase backpedaled and the creature turned to swim lazily in the other direction, toward the other two. He'd…give them a wide berth.

Multiple times he'd kick frantically to the surface when he couldn't hold his breath any longer, then go right back under to grab as many supplies as he could before needing air again.

One oxygen tank later (low capacity. Why wasn't there a blueprint for a high capacity tank? Fifteen minutes wasn't long enough) and he found himself glaring at his PDA. "The hell's a 'cave sulfur'?" He pinched the bridge of his nose. Okay. Just. Check the nearby caves? There was one not far from his lifepod; if it was _cave _sulfur, it wouldn't hurt to at least check there, right?

He fitted the mask back over his nose and mouth (he wanted a _helmet. _Not the little mask that was auto-constructed with the O2 tank. He needed a dive suit if he wanted the helmet) and cut toward the direction of the cave opening he'd seen.

Looking into it now, it was a lot darker than he would have liked. What if there was something predatory in there?

He gulped at the thought.

No flashlight, and it would be too easy to get disoriented underwater. Hopefully it was just a small cave…

Using just the weak light of his PDA's screen, in he went.

It didn't take long for him to discover the exploding fish.

Chase yelped when a round fish exited a flower-like pod and shot straight for him. He didn't even process what was happening as he bolted back for the cave's entrance. He'd scrabbled for a handhold in the rocks; ducked at the creature went right past his head. It proceeded to blow up a few meters away, startling one of the big-eyed fish into darting toward then away from Chase.

Okay. Watch for the weird pod thing that hid freaking _exploding fish. _Good to know.

"_It would be best for your health to avoid the planet's volatile fauna," _his PDA offered helpfully. All he could offer it was a glare. Cheeky bastard.

He resurfaced to let his tank refill, then went right back down to the cave. There had been something left in the pod after the fish left and—Well. It looked like the cave sulfur that the fabricator had very roughly tried to recreate how it thought the stuff would look.

_Wonderful. _Hopefully nothing else would need it because he did _not _want to meet any more of those buggers.

Okay, okay. Just get back to your pod and start repairing shit, dude, he thought. At least now he'd be able to send out a distress signal once the fabricator built this little tool. If it was this much of a hassle to scrounge up supplies for a repair tool, he didn't want to know how hard other stuff would be. Hopefully rescue would come before he had to figure that part out.

A shake of the head and he pushed himself away from the storage compartment just as the fabricator was finishing.

Repair tool. Finally.

He snatched it up and ducked around the ladder to start working on the radio.

He willed its cables to stitch themselves back together while careful to keep his fingers away from the end of the tool; spliced wires that had been split apart. It was a patch job, but all he could do without actual parts for repairing. It would work, at the very least, to send out and pick up distress signals. He wasn't sure it could handle having a message sent out, though. He'd have to settle for just the signal.

Now, to just try and relax while he waited for—

"_Seek fluid intake."_

"Goddammit."


	3. Pillars

Chapter 3  
Warnings: None? Unless I forgot one  
Characters: Jackieboy Man

_(( note: the voice of Jackie's PDA is Angus's! ))_

* * *

Bare sand all around with only jutting pillars of stone to serve the scenery. Sunlight, somewhere above him. The pillars blocked most of it. That, or he was deeper than he thought. The pod had sunk at an odd angle; he couldn't see the surface through either hatch.

Crashing down in the water had knocked his glasses clean off his face. Now, cracks marred one lens.

Jackie pinched the bridge of his nose. He was sore, he was tired, it was supposed to be his day off. He'd planned to sleep in—just this once, mind you!—and here he was. At the bottom of an alien ocean in a broken lifepod.

This had not been what he was expecting to wake up to when he was thrown out of his bed by the ship jolting.

Supplies, he thought, looked limited. He hadn't seen any debris follow his pod down, couldn't see any salvage nearby. All he had was what had been stocked in Pod Seven's storage compartment: High-capacity oxygen tank, some nutrient bars, two flares, a scanner, and…a _broken _repair tool. God, the irony. Who had stocked this thing? he thought with a grumble.

He snatched up the tool and shoved it at the fabricator as it prepared blueprints. Rebreather would be a good idea depending on how far down he'd have to travel for salvage, he thought absently as he scrolled past it on the little screen. He'd have to make a mental not to watch for the supplies for it.

And…ah, repair tool. He selected the icon and sat back as the machine did the work disassembling the tool so that it could be put back together.

What it created from the parts definitely wasn't a repair tool, though.

"What?! No, no, you didn't just—"

On the little shelf sat an off-color replica of the _Aurora. _

…Created with the parts that were _supposed _to reconstruct into a repair tool. Was the replica even in the fabricator's blueprints?

Okay, okay, just a hiccup. Try again.

He removed the replica, selected the repair tool again, then put it back on the fabricator's platform.

Now it was a toy car.

Okay… What if he tried a…habitat builder. Did that one work?

The car disassembled. A bobblehead took the its place.

A resounding _thud _filled the pod when he proceeded to kick the fabricator.

"Of all the things that could go wrong, why does this pod get _three _of them?" He cupped his face in his hands and groaned. The lifepod's flotation device was broken. The repair tool had been broken. And the fabricator that he needed for _literally everything _was broken.

He picked up the doll and hurled it at one side of the pod. The med kit fabricator dented slightly to accompany the _thump._

A far larger crash that shook the entire pod followed to knock him into the ladder.

A shadow outside the hatch.

His hair stood on end when the creature screeched and rammed the pod again.

He lunged for the radio when the assault lulled for a few moments. The light was on. That was at least working. He slammed the button, couldn't make out anything as multiple distress calls tried to be heard over one another and his own was sent out. That's all he needed. The coordinates would be uploaded to his PDA.

The pod shuddered violently again. One spot caved dangerously inward.

"All right, Jackie…Now or never?"

He chuckled nervously as he snatched the oxygen tank and slipped on the mask. He managed a scan of the creature as it passed the hatch. Boneshark. Avoid, but can be distracted by light sources. Good to know, he thought as he hefted the unlit flares up.

He had everything important, he thought as he cast a glare at the bobblehead.

He had to wonder if the noise had been what drew the shark's attention. Dammit.

Jackie took a deep breath to steel himself, then forced the hatch open a crack. The water kept pushing it shut, so he had to do it in steps.

Once, then twice, it was shoved closed by the Boneshark, the second causing the glass to crack. Its head was too big to fit through the hatch; as long as it didn't make its own entrance, he could make it.

The water was almost over the hatch. Just a little more and it would open all the way without a problem.

Creaking metal. Jackie flinched as a jet of water hit him in the back as a small hole was punctured in the caved-in wall. It was followed by another, then another. The pod groaned.

Now. Go, _go_.

Jackie shoved the hatch open and threw one of the flares like a spear. The shark turned to chase it down, while the security guard went opposite. It could swim fast. It could catch him. Just keep going.

He risked a glance back; two others had also gone after the flare. They were all fighting over it.

It was only when he felt like he'd put a safe enough distance between himself and the sharks that he slowed down. Don't surface too quickly, he scolded himself. Bends are the last thing you need right now. Not that Jackie was all that likely to get them. He'd never exactly been the strongest swimmer and Pod Seven hadn't been equipped with a Seaglide. The way up would be slow whether that's what he wanted or not.

The ascent to the surface was agonizingly slow as he watched his oxygen levels go lower with each second that ticked by. The high-capacity tank would give him thirty minutes of air, but a part of him worried that wouldn't be enough to make it up, especially not with how quickly it was still going down without a Rebreather.

Thirty minutes was only for divers staying above a certain level. He doubted he had that long.

He risked a glance down. He couldn't see Pod Seven anymore. It was lost to the depths, to the shadows of the stone pillars around him.

He thought he saw shadows moving between the pillars. His eyes were playing tricks. The sun's weak rays, the stones' own shadows, were playing together. Weaving around one another. Creating movement and creatures that weren't really there.

Jackie checked his PDA. He was nearing one hundred meters from the surface. Halfway there.

He breathed a sigh of relief as his oxygen levels started dropping more slowly.

At sixteen meters, his PDA beeped a warning to slow his ascent even further.

"_Do not exceed nine meters per minute. Safety stop required."_

He could see the surface. He was so close! Jackie forced himself to stop, waited impatiently for the go-ahead.

Finally, finally, he was able to break the surface, pawing and splashing to try and keep his head above water.

His PDA walked him through the process of treading water. He succeeded…more or less. At least he wasn't splashing himself in the face anymore.

Stomach dropping when he finally got a good look at the ship, Jackie swallowed. It had to be at least a kilometer away. He could see sand creeping up one side. How buried was it? It would never fly again.

Focus, Jackie. He grabbed his PDA and started checking the distress calls that had made it through before he fled Pod Seven.

Below him, stone pillars and armored sharks. Ahead, the _Aurora_. Somewhere to his left, Lifepod Twelve would be far below the surface. Twelve would be his priority. That's the one he'd seen the medical officer enter. Find the officer, make sure he's alive. If there were any other survivors, the last thing they needed was for the only doctor to have made it off the ship to be dead.


	4. Red Grass

Chapter 4  
Warnings: Swearing  
Characters: Jameson Jackson, Minor Crew Member

_(( you, uh. won't have much time to get to know O'Harris. just a fair warnings ))_

* * *

When Lifepod Seventeen had jettisoned, it had done so with one of its passenger's hearts lunging into his throat as the other cursed vehemently. Two pairs of wide eyes stared out of the pane in the top hatch, watched the Seamoth Bay break away from the ship and hurtle straight at them.

"That fuckin' thing lands on us? Pod'll be flattened—no ifs, ands, or buts." the man, his name badge read O'HARRIS, growled. Jameson was certain the man was an engineer, one of Yu's men, if the tool belt was any indicator. "All that metal, and goin' that fast?" His hands tightened where they gripped his harness; Jameson couldn't help but copy the action.

Seventeen hit the water with a violent jolt to its occupants. O'Harris hissed, rubbing a hand over his neck; Jameson grit his teeth.

The pod bobbed back to the surface for only a few moments before something creaked and blew out from outside the pod. It promptly began to sink.

Jameson's breathing quickened. No. No, wait. Weren't lifepods supposed to float? They were! Why wasn't it floating? Why—

"Easy, Jackson. Just breathe."

Through the top hatch they could only watch as the Seamoth Bay crashed down onto the water's surface. It was close. It was too close. Jameson squeezed his eyes shut.

Another jolt as the pod hit the seafloor on its side. O'Harris breathed a relieved sigh as Jameson risked a peek through the pod's bottom hatch. The Bay was settling in the sand a safe distance away.

O'Harris undid his harness, landing on the ladder when gravity claimed him with a grunt. Jameson was sure to be a little more careful getting out of his own seat; he didn't feel like giving himself any more bruises than he already had. Both men were forced to crouch. On its side, the ladder cut the space in half to leave the side with the radio and their seats pretty much useless.

Jameson took a peek first through the bottom hatch: The Seamoth Bay, red grass, creatures everywhere. Through the top, a long drop into a cave that should have been dark. _Should _have been, and yet within came a purple glow. Goosebumps prickled along his skin as he stared the cave down. He didn't trust it. Not one bit.

He inched away from it, toward the bottom hatch, and sat back with his head resting next to it, eyes tracking O'Harris' hands as he checked his PDA. He looked frustrated. A huff and Jameson reached up between the ladder's rungs to press the button on the radio, listened as their distress signal was sent out and others came through trying to be heard over one another.

The other man's nose crinkled. "Ya mind shovin' that apron in the storage compartment?"

Right. It was making the cramped space smell far too strongly of the spices spilled on it. Jameson was all too used to the smell, just…not in such a small space.

With the apron stored away and the supplies their pod had been left with spread between them, O'Harris ran a hand through his hair. One scanner, one Seaglide, a repair tool, some water and nutrient bars. No oxygen tanks. At least they weren't too far down; the surface wasn't too far a swim. Hopefully they could both hold their breath long enough if the need arose to leave the pod instead of wait for rescue.

Something bumping against the other side of the bottom hatch startled both of them—Jameson nearly hit his head on the ladder jumping away from it. O'Harris pushed in front of him, brandishing the…_repair tool_, at the creature.

To meet their eyes was an angry-looking…piranha? Sort of? It backed up to ram the pod again, only to bounce harmlessly off the glass.

O'Harris snorted and offered Jameson a grin. "Feisty little bugger, ain't it?"

The chef finally found it in himself to chuckle.

The piranha—well, "Biter," as the scanner designated it—quickly found interest in another fish, taking off after it and seeming to forget about the lifepod.

With his companion remaining composed, it was easy for Jameson to stay calm despite their situation. Or, as calm as he'd get trapped in a broken lifepod at the bottom of an alien ocean.

Tapping the wall (well. Technically it was the floor of the pod if it was actually upright) allowed Jameson to get his companion's attention. _"Understand sign?" _he asked with a brow quirked.

"Enough of it."

"_There's sharks out there. They bury themselves in the sand." _He'd seen at least two of them a few yards from the pod already. Ambush predators. They had to be with how they lunged out of the sand going after the smaller fish.

O'Harris finally tucked his PDA away. "Not much bigger than us. And slow. Could outswim 'em if we need to."

"_They still have teeth. And we don't know what's hiding in that grass."_

"Don't worry 'bout it. Rescue should be comin' soon enough."


	5. Breathe

Warnings: Blood, Character Injury, Needles, Panic Attacks  
Whumptober Day 20: Trembling  
Characters: Dr. Schneeplestein  
POV: Dr. Schneeplestein

_(( sorry these first ones are short! they'll get more to my usual length once the Septics meet up ))_

* * *

The medical officer couldn't help but jump at every sound.

He could feel bruises blossoming across his chest from where the seat harness had dug into it, glasses still crooked on his nose. It was a wonder they had stayed on at all.

He was shivering. Not from cold, but fear. Would anyone find him? Did anyone know the _Aurora_ had even gone down?

It was dark there. The only light was the bioluminescence of the bulb-shaped…plants? and the fish he could see outside the pod. Far above him, much too far, were weak rays of sunlight that tried their best to pierce the depths.

Fish of different sizes and species swam around him, massive eel-like creatures with electricity coursing over their bodies danced around each other as they hunted. He could hear occasional rumbling, then his pod would shake as a…was it a geyser next to him? went off.

He couldn't stay down there. He had an oxygen tank. A half-charged Seaglide. He could make it to the surface. Maybe there were other survivors.

A torrent of water when he opened the top hatch forced it shut again, but not before a few little fish made it in. He scrambled onto the storage compartment at the creatures flopped in the few inches of water that had made it into the pod.

The one with the big eyes caught his stare first. Possibly literally. He crouched to get a better look at it. It was covered in blisters; blisters he couldn't see on the others of the species through the pane in the hatch. Were his eyes playing tricks, or were the blisters…glowing?

It was when he inched a bit closer, forgetting about the other one, that the red fish sank its teeth into his ankle. He fell with a gasp and a splash; kicked the piranha-like creature to forcefully tear it away. It hit the other side of the pod with a wet thud.

Tears in his eyes, the doctor clamored back on the storage; cradled his ankle with a hiss. God, he hoped that thing wasn't venomous.

He fumbled for the medical kid, stared into the box numbly. His hands wouldn't stop trembling. He nearly lost the contents of the kit to the shallow water beneath him. It had gone pink with his own blood.

No robots to do this for him.

Did he even…remember how to do it?

Needles, thread, bandages. Clean the wound first. Easy. Just do it. Go on, Henrik.

His hands were shaking too badly. He couldn't hold the needle steady enough. It hurt.

Something large crashed into the side of the pod; one of the eels. Two had gone after the same fish. One had crashed into the pod when it missed. It wasn't trying to get in. He was okay. Even so, his trembling worsened. Stop shaking, dammit.

He'd signed up to be a doctor on a high-profile ship. Not stitch his own goddamn leg shut.

His breathing was uneven, throat felt constricted. When he tried to use the needle, he jammed it into the wrong spot on his leg, dropped it to the water beneath after pulling it out with shaky hands and tears in his eyes. The rest of the medical kit followed after it. When had his hands started sweating?

Just breathe. Breathe.

He curled against the side of the lifepod. He couldn't breathe. His heart felt like it was lunging into his throat; was that what was choking him? Trembling so bad he felt like he was shivering. All he needed was for his teeth to start chattering.

Oh, god—he was going to die down there.

The sick fish kept flopping. The red one barely moved save for the occasional twitch. The sounds around him were terrifying: Screeching, thudding as creature bumped against his pod, the geyser, his own heartbeat thundering in his ears.

All Henrik could do was cover his head and try to breathe.


	6. Reaper

Warnings: Character Injury, Concussions  
Characters: Marvin the Magnificent  
POV: Marvin the Magnificent

_(( this was the intro I was both most excited and most nervous for, if I'm honest. I wanted it to be perfect ))_

* * *

He'd thrown his mask aside a while ago, now. It was in the way. It blocked his peripherals. Without it, the hair that had come loose from its bun fell into his eyes. He couldn't stop panting through the anxiety.

Where had it gone?

His pod had landed safely, without a single hiccup, in the water! He had a scanner, an oxygen tank and diving suit, even a decoy and a blueprint for more!

The creature had shown up not long after Lifepod Four hit the water. Its roar had sent his hair standing on end, its mandibles massive enough to grab the entire lifepod and drag it through the water.

_Where is it?!_ he thought desperately. Where the hell had it gone?

The water was silent as his pod bobbed on the surface, settling into a still calm after the last attack.

Okay, Marvin, he thought. Deep breaths. And change out of this damn suit while you're at it. The collar had flipped up on one side during the commotion, his tie loose, shoes and socks kicked off. Damn dress shoes had no goddamn grip. He'd slipped climbing into the lifepod, slipped again when the creature had grabbed it, before he got sick of them and left them to be tossed around freely. His mask had been crushed when he landed on it in an attempt to grab onto something solid.

Chest heaving, he stripped his sweat-drenched suit off and tossed it toward the radio. The wetsuit was an awkward fit, intended for someone average height; it pulled short at his wrists and shins, squeezed them maybe a little tighter than he'd have liked. That's okay, he thought. It's okay. The fabricator should have a blueprint for some sort of diving suit, right? It would take the sizing information from his PDA and craft one properly fitted for him. He shouldn't have to wear the too-small one for long.

He just couldn't keep wearing that suit. Not if it meant he might need to leave the lifepod. Its layers would become waterlogged; it would drown him. He wasn't a strong enough swimmer to fight that.

A shaky breath. Clear head. Breathe. Where's the monster?

He listened, to the water outside the pod, to his own heartbeat, his own breathing.

There. He could hear it. It was coming closer. Coming back.

He knew that it knew there was something inside the pod. It just had to break the shell to get to the meat inside.

The creature hit the pod with a violent jolt that sent Marvin crashing into the ladder. He grit his teeth, wrapped himself around it, as the beast shook its head.

The entertainer hissed when the movement made his head bang against one of the rungs; stars exploded in his vision.

The shaking wasn't doing him any good. He barely managed to cushion his head with an arm before it could crash against the ladder a second time.

Snatching the scanner when it hit him in the chest, Marvin grit his teeth and squinted down at the bottom hatch. Oh, _god, _his head hurt.

Between anxiety, the pounding of his head, and the creature thrashing the pod violently back-and-forth, he couldn't hold his hand steady. The scanner kept breaking sight with the creature through the glass pane in the bottom hatch.

Multiple tries, then it finally reached 100% and he dropped the scanner to get a better grip on the ladder.

His ears popped. How far beneath the surface had it dragged him?

Something creaked.

A jet of water hit him as the tip of one of the beast's mandibles broke through. Marvin's breathing quickened; he couldn't take his eyes off it. It was so much sharper than he'd expected. He could just imagine it spearing straight through a human.

Then, it released.

Marvin clutched his chest as Four floated back to the surface. It was upside down, now; he had to be careful not to fall on his head as he detached himself from the ladder.

He was shaking, heart pounding too quickly, and it felt like a goddamn jackhammer was going at his skull.

It would only take another attack or two before that thing broke the pod open. He could see the dents marring the walls, the hole nearly head-level with him. Four couldn't take much more, and with it upside down it was an even easier target.

The _Aurora_, he thought. He had to swim for it. He'd landed close to it. As long as that thing hadn't dragged him too far from it, he could make it. The decoy, he had to trust it would work. It would be enough for that swim.

With shaking hands, Marvin grabbed his PDA from his hip.

The creature's file. That's what he needed. What had the scanner figured out?

His PDA chirped to life. Head trauma, heat palpitations, bruising, it warned him. He ignored it. That's not what he wanted. The creature. He wanted the creature's file.

Designator: Reaper Leviathan.


	7. Three

Warnings: Animal Death (for food), Minor Blood/Injury, Swearing, Minor Character Death  
Characters: Chase Brody  
POV: Chase Brody

_(( ow... I'm sorry- ))_

* * *

Chase wasn't sure he liked the concept of getting drinkable water on this planet. He'd figured it out, sure. That part had been easy after he (finally) got a scanner built and went to town figuring out all the little fish in his area.

They were all edible. That's what he'd been hoping for, if he was totally honest. But the one…

He hadn't even wanted to _touch _the thing. A shallow-water fish shouldn't be see-through. That was a trait that should be reserved for only the most freaky deep water fishes. Not the little thing he could almost call cute. _Almost._

A fish also shouldn't be the only damn way to get fresh water. He needed to figure out if there were other alternatives.

"_Seek fluid intake immediately," _his PDA warned once again. It was reading his vitals, could tell he was dehydrated. He could have sworn the beep had taken on an irritated tone. Just drink the damn water, it said. Suck it up, Brody.

The bottle felt funny in his hands. He wasn't sure he wanted to know how the fabricator had created it from the once-living creature.

Suck it up, dude. With a grimace, he plugged his nose and downed as much as he dared in one go, tried not to gag. He wasn't sure if it actually tasted bad or if he'd just convinced himself that it did. Either way, he had to force himself to drink the rest.

One bottle wouldn't be nearly enough, but it would do for now. Besides, he was pretty sure he'd drank a little too fast; his stomach felt about ready to rebel. He swallowed past it.

Okay. Okay. Now what?

Coordinates to other pods had been sent to his PDA. Now that it wasn't nagging him, that should go next. Right. Which was closest?

Seventeen was…close-ish? But he didn't dare make the swim without a Seaglide. Nineteen (wasn't that the one Keen had taken?) was way too far and way too deep. Not a chance without some sort of submersible. Thirteen wasn't super far, but it mentioned _remains? _Chase shuddered at the thought. That meant the pod never even made it to landing; a part of him hoped whatever was left of Khasar had been eaten. He felt bad for thinking it, but he…_really _didn't want to come across whatever might have been left of the man.

Through the list, one-by-one, then he stopped. Three! Lifepod Three, it was close, so close! His maintenance crew!

Chase couldn't help but grin. Mason and Romero—he could reach them. It would be easy! He'd even gone in their direction in a search for supplies already.

It hadn't been long. Only a few hours since the crash. The only confirmed death was Khasar and those who hadn't made it off the ship at all. The other survivors could still be out there. His team could still be; maybe they were having more luck than him. Back in the water he went.

He held his PDA up; watched the point on its screen. Well. _Points. _All of the signals had started popping up. Could he…ah! Yeah, he could turn off the ones he didn't want. Good. For the time being, he'd leave Five and Three's visible.

Shifting the device around until he found the point for Three again, he swam for it while keeping his head near the surface.

As he got closer, he couldn't help but slow. Kelp? Is that what that was? Oh, god, were the shadows it cast terrifying.

He was close to Three, now. It must be in that…forest. Yeah, he'd call it a forest.

Maybe it wasn't as easy as he thought. How would he know what lurked in the kelp?

Chase swallowed.

As he neared the forest, his PDA startled him; he clutched his chest and glared down at it.

"_Life on this planet grows in distinct and diverse ecological biomes,"_ it chirped cheerily. "_Further study recommended"_

…You're insane, he thought. Like hell was he going to explore any more than strictly necessary. Especially if there were more places different from what he'd already seen. Yeah, no thanks. He'd stick to what he knew.

A shake of the head. Whatever, just. Find your team.

He didn't like that the coordinates weren't at the surface. The pod shouldn't have sunk. Had more of them? They had to have, judging by the coordinates he'd been given. God. There were more problems with them than he'd thought. He actually felt a little guilty for ending up with one of the only ones that floated. That entertainer had gotten the other.

Chase breached the surface to let his tank refill, then dived. Straight down into the forest.

From the corners of his eyes he could swear he kept seeing creatures as the kelp—creepvine, the scanner said when he ran a quick one at its questioning beep—moved through the calm waters. He didn't like it. It made chills creep up his arms every time he jerked his head to look only to see nothing there.

He bit down maybe a little too hard on the mouthpiece when he heard something, held his PDA maybe a little too tightly as he moved through the water searching. Scanning the seafloor. He was near the lifepod, now. Where was it? Where—

The air was forced from his lungs as something hit him from behind. It bumped its nose against his air tank, nipped his shoulder when it couldn't grab the device.

Chase kicked away from the creature, his cry muffled behind the mask and mouthpiece, grabbed at his shoulder with his free hand. His eyes widened when he got a good look at it.

Shark, shark, _shark. _

It didn't look like any shark Earth used to have, nor any he'd seen in aquariums. He wasn't sure why that's what he expected, to be honest.

It rushed him again.

He floundered for a direction before deciding on just straight down. Seafloor. Caves, he could see them. They were small. That's exactly what he needed. _Go._

Almost—

It grabbed the leg of his uniform and hauled him backward.

He tried kicking at its snout, tried grabbing for a handhold to pull himself free. The material tore slightly. Not enough.

Chase bit down on the mouthpiece. Reached for something—_anything. _His hands finally found metal, probably broken away from the ship. Uneven edges bit into his hands. When he swung, it sliced through the water with ease.

It released—thank god, it released him—when the scrap hit it in the snout.

He swallowed as the shark gave him a long look. Then it wrenched the metal from his hands and took off with it.

Wincing when he noticed the scrapes and cuts the metal left on his palms and fingers, he did his best to wipe them off on his uniform. The salt water stung. Honestly, he thought the metal had messed up his hands worse than when the thing nipped his shoulder. Neither were bad, at least. Wrap 'em with gauze (or even _just _clean them) when you get back to Five and you're golden, he thought. The leg of his suit had taken a beating, and his shin might bruise, but no broken skin there.

He laughed nervously. He'd come out of that loads better than he would have expected.

Did those fuckers like metal? It had gone after his air tank, then the scrap metal. Okay… Noted.

He took a slow breath, took his PDA off his hip. Okay. Three. Where was Lifepod Three?

There.

Two more of the sharks were near it. One was chasing a little eye-fish (Peeper, his scanner had called them. How fitting) in circles with jaws snapping. The other tore a loose panel from the pod's exterior.

Chase's eyes widened. No, no, stop that!

He snatched up another piece of metal—it was _everywhere _down there!—and waved it. The shark dropped its scrap into a nearby pile, set its eyes on him.

Come on, bastard, he thought even as his heart started pounding. Leave 'em alone.

Flinching as it darted right at him, Chase held the metal out and squeezed his eyes shut.

It was taken right from his hands and the shark swam away.

…They _did _like metal. Huh.

He mumbled a curse around the mouthpiece when he checked his oxygen. He'd need to go back up for air soon. Just…get Mason and Romero and get back to Five.

Keeping his head on a swivel, he swam for Three. His team. They were right there. Right—

His stomach dropped.

A massive hole had been torn into the side of the pod.

Chase swallowed and scrambled for the lifepod. No, no, where are they?!

He tore open the storage compartment. Water and nutrient bars hadn't been touched. Swam up to the top hatch. It was still locked. They'd never left through it. The bottom hatch was pinned beneath the pod.

There! Mason's PDA. Chase's grabbed greedily for it, ignoring the cracks ruining the once-smooth screen.

A message. No. Please not this. They were supposed to record the last moments if their owner—

Mason wasn't dead. And Romero, where was she?

Play the damn recording, Brody.

He blinked away tears. The hole in the pod looked like it had been created from the _inside. _Mason—he'd done something to their Seaglide.

Chase's stomach twisted. Had it blown up before they even got a chance to leave the pod? He cast his eyes to the still-locked hatch, to the hole ripped into it.

Oh, god…

His team. Please tell me this is a joke? he begged. They're not! They can't be!

His team couldn't be gone. It couldn't be that easy.

Shock was all that kept the tears from falling.


	8. Oxygen

Warnings: Swearing, Blood, Minor Violence, Minor Character Death, Drowning  
Characters: Jameson Jackson, Minor Crew Member  
POV: Jameson Jackson

_(( haH I got a little anxious working on this chapter :'D Fun fact I'm terrified of swimming/can't swim at all, so the drowning part was big oof to write ))_

* * *

It seemed almost too calm. Jameson didn't like it. Didn't trust it. There were creatures outside the pod; only the smallest ones came anywhere close.

It was almost like the larger ones got the same sense of unease from the purple cave nearby that Jameson did and wanted none of it.

"Looks like most of the pods sank." O'Harris' sudden voice startled him out of his thoughts. The older man was holding his PDA close to his face, glaring as he read over distress calls.

"_Most?" _Jameson furrowed his brows. _"But…they're supposed to float!"_

"…Yeah. Well, they didn't."

"_Well…rescue should come soon, shouldn't it?"_

"Doubtful." O'Harris hoisted himself up so he could lay across the top of the ladder. "We're outside'a Alterra space out here. If rescue _does _come, it'll be a good, long while."

Jameson tapped the side of the pod to get his companion's attention. _"What are we supposed to do, then?" _he signed. Rescue had to be coming. The _Aurora _was an expensive ship, it had so much equipment on board, plus the emissary! It had been headed to set up a phasegate—Jameson didn't even want to _imagine _how expensive that alone was. Alterra had to be sending someone out!

"Start lookin' through blueprints. We need Seaglides and oxygen tanks. Should probably head for one'a the still-floating pods." He grunted as he rolled to sit up, then hopped back down to be beneath the ladder. "Looks like Five's closer. We should check around the area for materials."

"_We could get salvage from the Seamoth Bay..?"_

"Atta boy! Good thinkin'. We'll make some O2 tanks first; we ain't holdin' our breath long enough to get there and back." O'Harris grinned, then pulled a plastic baggie from his tool belt. It was filled with wires that he carelessly dumped to the floor, then passed the empty bag to Jameson. "Watertight. Probably wanna keep those hearing aids dry, eh?"

"_Yes, yes! Thank you."_

"We need to keep it to as few trips as we can," the old man added as he removed various tools from his belt so he could use it to carry materials. He only kept a wrench, passing a slightly heavier one to Jameson. "Every time we open a hatch, water's gonna flow in, and we've got limited oxygen in here as it is. Hold your breath long as ya can and collect as much as ya can. Yeah? I'll work on settin' something up outside the pod so we can get air without comin' in."

All he could do was nod. Then, he removed his hearing aids and tucked them away in the bag.

No more communication. He could tell just by looking at them that O'Harris' hands were too stiff to sign. If anything, it would have to be one-way talk.

The man was grabbing tubing and a powerdrill to set aside, then helped Jameson shove the bottom hatch open. One final gulp of air, and out he went. The water stung his eyes, a few bubbles slipping from his mouth as he hissed.

A Biter immediately went after him, but lost interest when he was able to swim faster. Okay, okay. Supplies. Titanium. He needed titanium. It was everywhere. Easy.

The water pressed on his chest, made it hard to hold his breath. They weren't too far down, but without air it was hard.

The swim back to the pod was frantic as he started to get lightheaded. O'Harris was outside of it now. The tube had been connected into it, a stopper on the end to keep water from entering the pod through it. It looked like something meant for a robot, but the engineer had made do.

O'Harris gestured to the tube, and Jameson would be lying if he said he wasn't maybe a little greedy as he "drank" the air from the lifepod.

The old man pointed to the purple caves; he was squinting against the stinging of the water. His eyes were red. Jameson's probably looked about the same.

"_I'm not going down there," _the chef signed with a frantic shaking of the head.

O'Harris gestured around them. There was nothing close enough for them to reach without air tanks besides a few little scraps of metal here and there.

"_I don't trust it!"_

A roll of the eyes and an annoyed gesture was all the engineer offered him. He snatched the tube out of Jameson's hands and took a deep breath from it, then bolted for the cave entrance. The chef could only follow.

His stomach twisted when he saw just how deep the cave ran. He could feel the pressure on his chest increasing as he followed O'Harris down; holding his breath was actually starting to hurt. Massive, glowing mushrooms revealed themselves to be the source of the light. Despite them, it was still dark. Far too dark. Spires jutted from the cave ceiling, and it stretched off into darkness. Jameson didn't dare to think how large it was, what creatures might lurk within.

He jumped when his PDA buzzed. He glanced down at the screen as text scrawled across it: _"The conditions in this cave support a microcosm of unique, possibly predatory lifeforms. Try to anticipate unanticipated threats."_

O'Harris was glaring at his own PDA. His had probably spoken the same warning that appeared in text on Jameson's screen.

Bubbles were slipping from their mouths, and both men opted to make the dash back up to their pod.

They were both left coughing after wrestling the hatch open and more or less sliding in like dead fish.

Jameson slipped a hearing aid back in while his companion seemed to be mid-rant.

"—materials down there!"

"_We don't know what else is down there."_

"Jackson! We need the materials! There's ores down there—stuff we can _use!_"

"_There may also be creatures that could kill us! Did you even pay attention to the warning?"_

"Already got ones like that up here, now, don't we? What's the difference if somethin' up here versus down there kills us?! We're still fuckin' dead, ain't we!" He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Look. We've got limited air in here. We don't do _somethin' _we're dead either way. So we either sit here and wait for the pod's oxygen to run out, or we risk it and gather whatever the hell we can reach with what air our lungs can hold on their—" The pod shook and O'Harris cut himself off with a curse.

Jameson lunged away from the hatch; they couldn't see out either of them.

Something was coiled around the lifepod.

The sound of scraping rang high-pitched in Jameson's ear; he scrambled to claw his hearing aid back out when the pitch only raised.

The…_thing, _around the pod moved. O'Harris lunged for the scanner. Jameson's PDA buzzed when the scan completed: Crabsnake. Why was it called—

Its head smacked against the top hatch, mandibles prying at it while its jaws snapped. …Oh.

"_It followed us from the cave!" _He didn't realize his hands were shaking too badly for O'Harris to understand him.

O'Harris said…something. He'd turned away as he scrambled for one of the tools he'd dumped on the floor. He nearly hit his head on the ladder twice in his mad dash for a screwdriver—it was something sharp. Jameson grabbed for the power drill. It had already stopped working after sitting in the water at the bottom of the pod, but it was something.

The glass on the hatch cracked.

The engineer started shooing him toward the bottom hatch; neither took their eyes off the top. They didn't dare.

When they started pushing the opposite hatch open, the Crabsnake's head twitched. Did it have eyes? Jameson couldn't see any. He was dragged out of the pod by his shirt, the hatch slamming shut behind them with a torrent of water. He'd lost the power drill somewhere in there, had to wonder if it had been left inside Seventeen.

His companion was pointing up while his eyes remained fixed on the creature. O'Harris didn't have to sign to make the message clear: Swim for the surface.

Up. Go up, _air. _So _close._

The older man suddenly left his side as he was pulled back down. One of his arms was trapped in the creature's jaw, no amount of pulling let him get free. He'd dropped the screwdriver; Jameson dived for it. It was all he could think to do.

O'Harris was pounding the top of the creature's head with a bare fist. Blood in the water.

The screwdriver barely did anything as it dragged the engineer back toward the cave.

Jameson's lungs were crying for air. Bubbles from his companion's mouth as he screamed.

The chef was helpless, left grabbing at his own throat (was it in sympathy, or the fact he couldn't breathe? He couldn't tell at that point) when the Crabsnake released O'Harris, only to spring at him again and take him by the neck.

The old man's fighting finally fell still and he was dragged down, down, back down to the cave.

Jameson went into autopilot, kicking frantically for the surface. His thoughts felt slow; he should be feeling…_something,_ shouldn't he? Survival overrode compassion. Air, he needed _air, _he was too far down.

Spots in his vision.

He gasped desperately, but was only rewarded with a mouthful of salt water. Each cough only made it worse.

He could see the surface.

Still too far.

Each claw was slower than the last. He gagged.

Can't make it.

Somewhere in there, his limbs stopped cooperating.

His mind told him to sleep.


	9. Playing Hero

**Warnings:** _Panic Attacks, Swearing, Drowning_  
Characters: Jackieboy Man, Dr. Schneeplestein, Jameson Jackson  
_POV: Jackieboy Man_

_(( psst Jackie & Henrik is literally like my top favorite friendship in the fandom; they've just got a sour start for this AU ^^" ))_

* * *

Jackie was right over the medical officer's lifepod. It was so far down…

He ducked his head under the water. His stomach twisted; he couldn't see anything beneath him. It was pitch black down there.

You've got this, he assured himself. Get down to the medical officer. Hopefully he's still alive down there. Okay, Jackie…now.

Diving straight down was disorienting as the water got darker. The pressure started increasing, forcing deeper breaths from him, making his oxygen levels tick lower faster than he'd have liked. He checked his PDA to make sure he was still going down instead of sideways, had to correct his course when he started swimming away from Pod Twelve.

"_Detecting volcanic activity and several unusual electromagnetic signatures in the region. Exercise caution when diving deeper," _his PDA chirped.

…Volcanic activity?

His breath hitched when the ocean floor suddenly erupted with life: Glowing bulbs, a volcanic vent, electric…eels? When the vent went off, the very water itself seemed to come alive with movement around him. The dark water had parted to make room for plantlife and creatures he never could have imagined, the depths keeping them hidden until he was right on top of them.

It was so vastly different from where Seven had landed with its murky water, towering pillars, and honestly? Jackie thought it looked so…dead. It was just sand and Bonesharks.

The two areas weren't even that far from each other. He couldn't understand how the seabed had taken such a drastic, lively change in this area.

As much as he wanted to ponder, his PDA chirped a warning for his oxygen levels. The lifepod was right there, it was still giving off light from the inside. He peered in through the top hatch, tapped it with his remaining flare.

Movement from inside. There was water at the bottom of the pod; it was discolored with blood. The occupant had been injured.

Jackie tapped again; the figure inside jolted, tripped over himself in a scramble to both look up through the hatch and curl closer to the side of the pod. The medical officer's eyes widened when he noticed that Jackie was indeed human and not one of the alien creatures.

Getting the hatch to open was a struggle. He didn't want too much water to get in and the officer didn't move to help. The end of his unlit flare ended up snapping off when he was forced to use that for leverage, but it at least held long enough for him to get inside; one of the eels slammed into the hatch the moment it closed above him. He yelped, slipping off the ladder and falling into the shallow water at the bottom.

The officer still hadn't budged. Jackie could smell sweat and the older man was trembling, breathing rapidly.

Slipping off his mask, Jackie crouched at the other man's side. "Easy," he soothed. He had to tear his eyes away from the man's shredded ankle to meet his gaze. All security personnel had been trained to deal with panic and anxiety attacks, but this had to be the first that Jackie had actually needed to put that training into action. "Breathe with me, okay?"

In.

Out.

"There ya go. Keep breathin'."

The medical kit was in the water, everything spilled out. There were two fish laying there; one looked dead, the other diseased. The supplies would be contaminated. Wonderful. Jackie hadn't brought the one from Seven. The officer's coat was thin, though; he could use the broken part of his flare to make a tear in it. It would have to work for bandages until they could get to a lifepod with a stocked med kit.

Now that he was in a (mostly) dry pod, Jackie was realizing how heavy his hoodie was as water dripped from it. The sopping material stuck to his arms when he tugged it off. It nearly took his glasses with it to be tossed in a corner to be forgotten. His tank top was old and grungy, and he didn't like that his arms were bare, but he'd rather that than the red hood weigh him down at the wrong time. Or better yet, be a nice handle for one of those creatures to latch onto.

"Who are..?" The medical officer's breathing had steadied. He was wiping sweat from his brow when Jackie met his eyes again.

"Jackie. You're uh…Schnee…Schneeplestine, right?"

"St_een_," he corrected. "Schn-neeplestein, yes." He winced as he shifted and grabbed at his ankle. "Th-that red fish. A scan—does it say is venomous?"

Gaze shifting to the dead fish, Jackie grabbed blindly for the scanner he'd connected at his hip opposite the PDA. No, not venomous, and he answered as such. Schneeplestein sagged with relief.

"Give me your coat. All we can do right now is wrap your leg, and you're gonna have to settle for usin' that."

If things weren't so serious, Jackie would have let himself feel surprised at how differently the doctor was built from what he'd expect from someone in the position as he shrugged off the coat. Schneeplestein was tall and broad; he looked like he could _break _a person, not fix them up. Instead, at the back of his mind, Jackie hoped the guy was as strong as he looked. Would be real damn helpful out there.

The thin coat was like tissue paper. The broken end of his flare easily tore a hole in it, and from there his bare hands effortlessly tore it into wide strips.

"Gonna need stitches?"

"Ah…yes, y-yes."

Jackie helped the other man to the ladder. "How are you at swimming?"

"I can swim perfectly fine." Was that defensiveness? He couldn't blame the guy, honestly; he'd found Schneeplestein in the midst of a panic attack. That's…pretty damn vulnerable.

"Well, mind if I uh…" Jackie glanced at the Seaglide resting against the storage compartment. Jeez did he wish Seven had been equipped with one of those. "I can't very—"

"How did you get down here if you cannot swim..?"

"Can't swim _well," _he corrected. Then he scratched the back of his neck. "Uh. Lots of floundering and PDA-reminders…"

"…You are going to die out there," Schneeplestein muttered.

"Says the guy who would've hyperventilated 'til his pod ran outta air." Jackie flicked the meter matter-of-factly; it had fallen close to the red already. He'd guess there was also a leak somewhere for it to have ticked down so low already.

Waiting for the pod to slowly fill seemed to take so much longer than it had in Seven. Then again, he didn't have a cranky officer getting snippy with him when he'd left his own pod. Jackie just had to remind himself that the attitude was warranted. This was no time to be happy-go-lucky, and maybe the guy acted more civil when his life wasn't on the line. Don't be too upset with him, he reminded himself.

The pod finally filled and two made their dash to get away from the eels.

An agonizingly slow ascent to the surface. The doctor would periodically grab for his ankle with a wince or sharp outtake of air that forced bubbles from his mask (a hiss, if Jackie was to guess); the salt water had to feel _great _on that wound. Ouch. He was a good swimmer, though. Even with the Seaglide, Jackie had a hard time keeping up. It was hard to balance the thing when he had a broken flare in one hand and kept grabbing for his PDA with the other.

Schneeplestein was looking at coordinates, pointing out a pod that would be on the way to the nearest floating one. Okay, looked like Seventeen would be their next stop.

Surfacing, both pushing their masks up, the officer pointed in the direction of Seventeen. "Is not far now," he panted. They'd been swimming at an angle toward Seventeen and up at the same time. They could see sand and red grass beneath them now.

Jackie changed his grip on the Seaglide after both pushed their masks back down, let their oxygen refill, and went back under.

A part of the ship had broken away and settled to the seabed. He couldn't tell what area it was, not now that it lay torn apart and the entrances nowhere in sight. In the near distance them, the shape of Lifepod Seventeen stood out among the grass.

A shape was swimming frantically some way away from them, but their fight was slowly dying.

Jackie gestured wildly to the survivor. The _drowning _survivor.

Both men took off toward them.

It was Schneeplestein to get to the survivor first; their fight had stopped by then. They didn't so much as twitch in the officer's grasp as the man held them around the waist with one arm and kicked for the surface.

When they surfaced, Jackie recognized the man. JJ! It was the cafe owner!

The doctor looked lost. "I…I need solid ground! We need to get him to Five!"

"Goddamn—he's already suffocating! Do something!"

"I do not know what to do in open water! He needs to be laid down!"

"Do the—the—Heimlich, that's what it's called, right?"

"Is for _solid _objects that are choked on—"

"Just try it—"

"He would only swallow it again—"

"He's drowning anyway—"

"He needs CPR, not—"

"_Do it_, Doctor!"

"We are getting him to Five and that is final."

Jackie grit his teeth. He could see Pod Five bobbing in the distance.

The question was if they could even reach it in under six minutes; Jameson's PDA was already giving off trills of alarm that its owner needed immediate medical attention.

Schneeplestein changed his grip and made a beeline for Five.


	10. Decoy

Warnings: Swearing  
Characters: Marvin the Magnificent  
POV: Marvin the Magnificent

_(( I struggle with dialogue. I enjoy chapters/fics like this that I don't have to write any XD ))_

* * *

Reaper Leviathan.

Even the _name_ was terrifying. The scanner couldn't have at least let up on that part? They went with names the AI "thought" as fitting (sometimes not exactly being the most creative, he'd heard), going off the information from the scans to select a name. But _Reaper?_ God.

Marvin swallowed, kept a hand pressed against his aching head.

What had Four been supplied with again? Wetsuit, check. He was wearing it, even if it was a bit small on him. Maybe he should look for something sharp to cut the sleeves and legs on it; they were too short and too tight. Oxygen tank, scanner...oh! A decoy, as well. Food..? No, but there were two bottles of drinkable water, the tops shaped in a way that they fit in a spot on the suit's waistband. It was a start, at least.

Running a hand through sweat-slicked hair, Marvin let out a deep sigh. Just breathe, keep calm, gather your supplies, he thought. Get to the _Aurora_. There had to be other survivors on it.

The light on the radio wasn't on. He had to wonder if he'd accidentally hit the button or if something had been thrown against it during one of the attacks. That meant the coordinates to other pods would be in his PDA, didn't it? It also meant a distress signal for Four would have been sent out. That...he wished hadn't happened. What if another survivor came for it and the Reaper returned? That would...not be favorable.

Head to the _Aurora_. He had his mind made up. That would be his best bet, wouldn't it?

His PDA said the air was oxygen- and nitrogen-based. Breathable to humans. Thank god, at least there was an upside in _that_.

Shoving open the—well, _technically_ it was the bottom hatch. but with the pod upside-down, that left it as the top one—bottom hatch open, Marvin pulled himself up the ladder and sat on the flat surface bobbing just slightly above the water.

Okay, Marvin. Deep breath.

He could see the ship. The Reaper hadn't dragged him as far from it as he'd feared. In the distance he could see another lifepod; the ship was closer. That was his target. Worry about other survivors later. Save yourself first, figure out where to go from there.

Another deep breath before he slipped the mask to the air tank on. He couldn't hear the Reaper. Maybe he wouldn't even have to use the decoy.

Three...

Two...

Splash.

Marvin could never win a competition in swimming, but he could at least keep his head above water and swim fast enough that it actually felt like he was getting somewhere.

He wasn't able to make it far before his PDA started trilling with warnings.

...Radiation.

The fucking ship was _surrounded_ with it, and if he went any closer that would be it. It was die to radiation poisoning, or risk going back the way he'd come. He wasn't particularly fond of either option.

He could still see the other lifepod. Five, if the coordinates in his PDA were any indicator. How were Four and Five the only ones that hadn't sunk? How was that possible? They had _one_ job, and almost all of them were below the surface. Even Four, through numerous attacks by the massive Reaper, had continued floating.

Five. Five was about the only place he could go, now. The _Aurora_ was irradiated. As far as he knew, they didn't have radiation suits, nor even blueprints to make them. They couldn't even get close to the ship.

...They couldn't get close to it.

How the hell would any of the survivors get off the planet?! Lifepods were useless for communication, let alone any sort of _long-ranged_ communication!

Okay, Plan B. Get to Five and worry about that later, he thought with a growl. If you can't get to the ship, at least try to meet up with other survivors. Get to Five. Get to Five. Find other survivors.

Marvin turned away from the ship, stomach dropping at the stretch of water between him and Five. The stretch of deep, murky water where the Reaper could be lurking anywhere and he'd never even see it.

Swim for it. _Go,_ Marvin.

PDA and water and scanner at his hips, decoy held against his chest with one hand, he ducked his head under the surface and started the long swim.

His eyes played tricks on him as shadows danced in the murk. Was it tricks? The light creating false creatures below and around him? He could only hope.

Lifepod Five. Get to Five. Don't let your mind wander. Fear will make it betray you, he told himself. Calm thoughts. Even breathing. There's a long swim ahead of you. Keep a clear head.

He could hear the Reaper again. With his head submerged and water filling his ears it sounded almost…funny. He bit down on the mask's mouthpiece.

He could hear it, but was unable to see it. The water was so murky he could barely see his own hand in front of his face. It was like that because of the ship crashing, wasn't it? It had to settle, the water had to clear. Sooner or later.

Not soon enough.

Marvin could have sworn his heart stopped when something swam under him, nearly brushed against him.

The Reaper roared again. The sound reverberated around him, made his blood run cold. It was there.

It was _right there. _

His mind immediately went to those mandible spearing through him like he was nothing. It would be effortless. A little human didn't stand a chance against the massive creature.

He could see its shadow. Why was it circling him?

Marvin swallowed as he tracked the creature's shadow. His arms pulled tight against his chest, wrapped around the creature decoy.

_Decoy._

How does it work? he thought frantically as he turned it in his hands. It had a battery. It had to have an "On" switch, right?

There!

Flipping the switch, he shoved the device away from himself. It bobbed in place, a light blinking, as it gave off a weak pulse he could almost feel through the water.

When the Reaper lunged, Marvin covered his face and went rigid enough to start sinking a little.

Besides water shifting around him, forcing him away from the device, he didn't feel anything.

The decoy had actually worked!

The Reaper took off with it.

A part of him really hadn't believe it would actually _work. _Oh, boy, the survivors would be needing more of those buggers…

Keep swimming.

Keep swimming.

Five had to be safe, right? Well, safer than Four had been, at the very least.

Eventually, he could see sand rising beneath him. He didn't understand how there could be shallows in the middle of the ocean, but he wasn't going to question it (sunken island, maybe? whatever). Between him and the lifepod was a pillar of…stone? sand? both? that rose up almost to the surface.

Marvin was breathing heavily by the time he reached the pillar. There was colorful flora growing on top of it, but he didn't pay it any mind as he threw himself down on his back and tore the mask away from his face.

Take a breather, then swim the rest of the way and check the lifepod for survivors. Yeah, sounded like a plan.

He was panting, his muscles ached; he just needed to lay there for a bit.


	11. Headcount

**Warnings:** _Swearing, Vomit_  
Characters: Chase Brody, Marvin the Magnificent, Dr. Schneeplestein, Jackieboy Man, Jameson Jackson  
_POV: Chase Brody_

* * *

Chase went to scrub at his teary eyes only for his hands to hit the glass of his mask. All he could do was stare at Lifepod Three's ripped open wall. His team's _fucking _Seaglide had exploded. They'd never even gotten a chance to leave the pod.

When his PDA warned him of low oxygen, Chase swallowed and kicked for the surface; his jaw was aching from biting down on the mouthpiece so hard for so long. Every time he felt a sob trying to surface, he'd bite down. It kept him focused enough to keep swimming. Just keep swimming.

He kept Mason's cracked PDA clutched tight against his chest. It was all he could think to do. The remaining two of his little maintenance team had had a chance. They'd landed—sure, their pod sank, but they'd _landed_. they'd been _alive _probably not even two hours ago—and if Chase had just been a little faster to get out here…

Reaching the surface, the man pushed his mask up and scrubbed at his eyes. The water stung them but he frankly couldn't care even as he knew they'd start turning red. If they weren't already.

God… Romero had three kids back on one of the Alterra colonies. Did they even know the _Aurora _had crashed? Who would bring them the news that their mother was probably dead on some alien planet? And—and Mason's siblings. He was the youngest of four, wasn't he? Their baby brother was gone. Their families couldn't even have the closure of burying them because there was just…nothing left.

…_Chase's _kids. He was still alive, but…they'd be told he was dead once Alterra realized what happened, wouldn't they? Or that if he wasn't, there was no way to get to him. What if he never saw them again?

He bit his tongue when another sob tried to surface.

No, no. Rescue would be sent. Eventually.

Who was he kidding? They were well outside of Alterra space. He—and any other survivors who may be out there—would just have to hope they got lucky and another ship happened through the system to pick up on the _Aurora's _likely weak signal.

Back to Five. That's all you can do now, Brody. The rest of the pods could still be checked. Just because those two hadn't made it didn't mean there couldn't be other survivors.

He'd seen…he'd seen who? Keen. He remembered seeing Keen getting in a pod. …Nineteen? Fuck. If he remembered the coordinates, that would be one of the hardest to reach. His, and the CTO's and her partner's, Twelve that he didn't know who had taken. One of the security guys had gone into one that was pretty deep, too. The rest should be easy(ish?) to get to.

…Hopefully.

That entertainer had taken Pod Four, but he didn't know who was in the rest. Get back to Five, gather your wits, and get to…Four, he supposed? At least that one was at the surface.

A steadying breath and Chase pulled his mask back down to start the swim back.

He hadn't even made it completely to his pod when he saw someone else farther out. They looked _exhausted_ and was laying on one of the weird spire-things that stuck out of the shallows almost to the surface.

The entertainer; he recognized the long, dyed hair. It was still partially pulled back, but a lot had come loose and was sticking to the sides of his face and the mask. The man was panting and had a hand over his chest.

All Chase could feel was relief as he abandoned his objective for Five and took off toward the man.

He pushed his mask up, spluttering a little when he splashed himself in the face. "Hey!" he called. "Hey!"

The other man startled and flinched as he bolted upright before his shoulders sagged with relief.

"Oh, thank fuck," he groaned, letting himself tip backward again so he was laying on the slightly submerged surface.

Chase floundered up onto the jutting stone formation and if it wasn't for the fact they were both gross and sweaty and didn't know each other he probably would have hugged the guy right then and there. "Which pod are you from?"

The guy started laughing—actually _laughing—_and Chase had to wonder if he was okay. "Don't even _try _goin' back there," he said between, admittedly very tired-sounding, giggles. "That thing'll swallow you whole."

"…Huh?"

"The fuckin'…the _Reaper. _I've never seen an animal so goddamn big…" He'd stopped laughing at least; he honestly just looked like he wanted to sleep.

Chase shook his shoulder and dragged the guy into sitting up. "Big?"

"Mhm." He rubbed at the bump on his head. Looked like he'd hit it pretty hard; Chase subconsciously pressed a hand to his own temple where the loose panel had hit him. "The thing just…I didn't know somethin' could _be _that big."

A calming breath. Maybe the guy was just in shock or something. Or did he _really _not want to talk about whatever a "Reaper" was? "Dude. _How _big?"

"Mandibles longer than you are tall. It dragged my fuckin' lifepod _under the surface_ like it was nothing."

Chase blinked. "Uh…dude. There's _no _way there's somethin' that big out there. You sure you weren't just panicking?"

_That _seemed to snap him out of it.

"Panicking?! I'm_ not_ fuckin' exaggerating. That thing dragged Four so damn far down my ears popped. One of its mandibles _broke through the pod's exterior. _If I hadn't had a goddamn decoy I wouldn't have even made it here." He ran a shaky hand through his hair and took a steadying breath. "Just…don't go to Four, okay? That thing'll fuckin' kill you."

Chase's PDA chirped and he blinked down at it. The entertainer's had as well.

Close proximity. They were sharing information with each other.

One such bit of information was the Reaper's file. His heart dropped when he looked it over.

There was _no way_ something that big was on the planet.

…Right?

That made things a whole lot more complicated. Maybe they just…stuck around one area? Hopefully?

At least the other man's PDA must not have been as damaged as his. _A ton _of blueprints filtered through that his had been missing.

Chase took a slow breath, then nudged the other man. "I…didn't catch your name?"

"Uh. Right. Marvin."

"Chase."

The handshake was…beyond awkward, to say the least.

"I—"

"Hey!" He could hear a machine and splashing.

Two…no, no, _three _more survivors. One had a Seaglide (that was probably the machine he heard. no fair, why hadn't Five been equipped with one?) and…one wasn't moving. The biggest man, who Chase recognized as one of the ship's doctors but didn't know the name of, was more or less on his back and dragging the third man who—_Jameson_.

Both Chase and Marvin threw themselves off the rock and back into the water to meet the trio. Jameson wasn't breathing.

"Wh… The fuck happened?!"

"He drowned, what does it look like?" the doctor snapped (great. he was _that_ type of guy). "Open the pod and help get him inside!"

It ended up being the security guy (Jackie, apparently) and Chase who went into the pod with Jameson. Neither of them had been swimming for their lives (technically. Chase wasn't going to count getting away from those shark-things after knowing what_ Marvin_ had faced) or carrying an unconscious passenger, so they had the most energy of the four. Energy would be needed, Chase thought as he swapped places with Jackie for the second time to begin chest compressions.

It wasn't long into the next swap—Jackie was panting as he pressed down on Jameson's chest (they were pretty sure they'd broken at least two ribs by that point). they were both exhausted and unsure if the other man would even make it—that the chef spluttered and threw up some water. They hurriedly turned him onto his side so he wouldn't start choking as he gagged and spat. He didn't throw up _nearly _as much water as Chase had been expecting.

Still, he finally let himself breathe with relief.

Jameson's eyes were glassy and dazed, but he was breathing again. Now they'd just have to keep an eye on him for a while (the doctor had mentioned he could end up with pneumonia) to make sure he was doing all right.

Jackie went to get the doctor and Chase ducked out as soon as…Schneeplestein, that was it, right? he'd go with Schneep, entered the pod.

The remaining three—Chase, Marvin, and Jackie—found their way back to the barely submerged rock formation and sat themselves down.

"Okay." Jackie looked expectantly between them. He was still carrying the metal rod (apparently it was a broken flare) and had it pressed into the stone so he could lean against it. "Now what?"

"Probably a habitat builder." Chase gestured out at the setting sun. "Three, max, can be in a pod at once, so we at least need a basic room where we can sleep and start storin' supplies."

Marvin furrowed his brows. "But…we're not gonna be here that long, are we? What about rescue?"

Chase snorted at that. "We're outside'a Alterra space. Call me cynical but I don't," he cleared his throat when his voice cracked, "think anyone's comin'."

The color drained from the poor entertainer's face.

"I mean…" Jackie gestured out at the _Aurora. _"It's still mostly in one piece. We'd need radiation suits if what Marvin said is right, but…maybe it's repairable?" …He looked right at Chase when he said it.

"I'm a repairman, not an engineer. Yu might still be alive, though, so if we find her and Berkeley, then I think we'd have a chance dependin' on how sever the damage it."

"Um…what's the difference..?" Marvin asked.

Chase couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Nonessential maintenance. I repair stuff the engineers can't be bothered with. Uh…changing light bulbs, fixing doors, makin' sure intercoms are workin'."

"…An electrician?"

"Sorta? Repairman's still a better way to describe it. We're kinda offtrack, though, guys?"

"Okay, right…" Jackie leaned his forehead against the broken flare. "So where are we starting? Habitat builder, ah..?"

"Seaglides for the red of us, and better air tanks," Chase answered.

"Rebreathers?" Jackie suggested.

"Yeah. That's…actually a really good idea. And…I guess just start collectin' stuff? And we're gonna need lots of food and purified water. Let's start with the habitat builder so we can get somewhere for Jameson to properly lay down, then I guess. Go from there?"


	12. Stitches

**Warnings:** _Swearing, Character Injury, Blood/Gore, Needles, Medical Procedures_  
**Characters:** _Marvin the Magnificent, Jackieboy Man, Chase Brody, Dr. Schneeplestein, Jameson Jackson_  
**POV:** _Jackieboy Man_

* * *

"Safe?" Marvin actually snorted at that. Jackie couldn't help but agree. "How the hell is _this _area safe? We're barely a kilometer from the Reaper. What if it just… I don't know, wanders over here?"

Chase rolled his eyes. "When I say 'safe' I just mean as safe as it seems this damn planet's gonna get. Considerin' what I've heard from the rest of you, at least the buggers around here are avoidable. And," he added, "lookin' at the Reaper's file, it's way too big to come into this area. So should be safe from that one, at least."

Jackie scraped his broken flare over the stone thoughtfully. "Okay. So we're 'bout as safe as we're gonna get here, right? What about supplies?"

"Lots of metal salvage 'round here that's easy to get. A lot of the blueprints need titanium, so that's covered."

"And the ship?" Marvin ran a hand through his hair, pulling it free from its rebelling bun. "We'll need radiation suits, but none of us have blueprints for them."

"Yeah…that I'm not sure about."

"Let's just focus on a habitat builder and dive suits," Jackie suggested. "Then we can worry about findin' a way onto the ship."

The repairman only shrugged. "Sure. Sounds like a plan."

"Uh… How're we gonna get silver, copper, and gold, though?" Marvin's brows were furrowed as he glared down at his PDA.

"If they're in the blueprints, that means they're within a certain radius of whatever lifepod our PDAs synced to." Chase gestured out at the water, then. "I found copper when my PDA prompted me to break a rock. It was just like. Super crumbly, I guess, and easy to break up. Like crust, sort of? coated around the copper I needed for a scanner. There's outcrops of crumbly rocks everywhere down there. The other minerals might be like that, too."

Jackie shrugged. "Worth a shot."

With that settled, the three of them split up with a final warning from Chase about exploding fish (_exploding fish? _What was wrong with this planet?) and metal-loving sharks, though kept within view of each other. Night had fallen by then, but the shallows were surprisingly easy to find their way about with the bioluminescent plants and fish. Yeah, even the fish glowed despite how shallow it was. How cool is that? Jackie thought as he watched a Peeper with its massive, glowing eyes dart past.

Finding a stone outcrop like Chase had described, Jackie took his flare and jammed the broken end into the stone.

Sure enough, the thin outer layer crumbled away to reveal—

…Titanium.

There were natural deposits like that? Well, that's great and all, but they had more of the stuff than they needed for the moment. It couldn't have been one of the other materials they still needed instead of the one they already had plenty of? Jackie huffed through his nose and shoved the metal in his pocket; it hadn't even been a decent-sized deposit, for crying out loud.

Jackie was only managing to find titanium, so went to collect the…acid mushrooms? instead. The other two were still gathering metals; he might as well get the plant since he wasn't having any luck with that.

With the three of them searching, it didn't take long for all the materials for the habitat builder to be scraped up and they met back on the rock formation.

"So." Chase gave what Jackie could only describe as a glare to Pod Five, "Who wants to be the lucky winner to go in there and put this stuff on the fabricator?"

"Not me," Marvin almost laughed with a shake of the head. "That doctor seems like a jerk. No thanks."

"Nose goes!"

Both Chase and Marvin touched a finger to their noses.

Jackie only blinked owlishly at them. How old were they, again..?

"Okay, fine. Whatever. Just give me the stuff."

The materials were practically shoved at him and he tossed his flare to Chase for the trade.

He didn't bother slipping his mask back on and just left the entire oxygen tank with the other two.

Entering the lifepod revealed Jameson and Schneeplestein leaning against opposite walls, as far from each other as they could get. Jameson looked exhausted, but he was awake and alert. Good, good. The doctor kept wincing and had his tongue caught between his teeth as he tried cleaning the bite marks in his leg. Now that most of the blood had been washed away, Jackie could clearly see the marks were a lot deeper than he'd thought.

He put the items on the fabricator and selected the habitat builder, then went to kneel at the doctor's side as the machine went to work.

"Hey…need any help?"

"No," the other man growled without so much as glancing his way.

"What about stitches? That…looks pretty bad."

"Is fine."

Jackie cast a look to Jameson, but the chef only shrugged in an "already tried, no luck" sort of way.

"You know what? No. That's not fine. That's a _bad _injury, and I'm helping whether you want it or not."

The glare he received could cut stone.

"Don't give me that look. You were totally willing to take my help back at Twelve, but now you're too good for a non-officer? That it? Give me the damn supplies and suck it up."

From behind him, Jackie heard a huff of air that was probably a laugh from their other companion. Another sound from the machine revealed the habitat builder was finished.

"I'll be right back. Let me get that to the other two, then I'll try and stitch ya up."

The doctor mumbled something in a language Jackie wasn't familiar with (was he from a non-Alterra colony? would explain the accent he wasn't sure he'd heard before) as the younger man grabbed the device and slipped back out. Chase and Marvin took it without a word and went to collect…_whatever _would be needed for a multipurpose room—Jackie hadn't bothered to check before returning to the pod.

More glaring, then the medical kit was shoved at his chest.

"Crab ass."

A shake of the head. He wasn't completely sure what he was doing, he'd never even touched a surgical needle before, but it shouldn't be too hard, right? Clean it (or, finish cleaning it since the doctor had already started), stitch it, clean it again?

He dabbed alcohol from the kit around one of the bite marks. The skin around it was an angry red, and when he used a cotton swab to clean inside the wound itself, he couldn't help a sympathetic wince as the doctor grit his teeth and tried to stay still.

"…Is this down to the bone?" The swab had gone farther than he expected and now that he was actually touching the wound. The skin around the doctor's ankle was practically shredded in places and he didn't have to do much prodding to see the…admittedly, he didn't know what it was called, but the bony parts of the ankle. The part Jackie _hated_ because _damn _did it hurt smacking them against anything.

Jackie wasn't particularly fond of the sight of the bone. Who'd have thought he'd see it while the person it belonged to was still connected to said bone and still alive? Well, there's a first for everything, he thought with a suppressed shudder. "Shit… And we don't have painkillers or anything? Why the fuck don't the kits have them?"

"To…to keep crew and passengers f-from taking advantage of them. They were i-in the Med Bay and likely did not s…survive the crash." Schneeplestein swallowed. Now he wouldn't even look at his leg.

"Okay… Just. Try not to bite your tongue, okay? That'd be a little harder to fix." Jackie had left his hoodie at the bottom of the ocean, the doctor had one layer of scrubs on… Oh! Jameson always wore something under his work shirt, didn't he? A white shirt? Or…tank top? Whatever it was, it stood out against the black collar. "Uh. James?" He turned to face the chef, who shifted to turn one ear more toward him. "Your work shirt. Can I take it?"

The chef's eyes shifted between him and the doctor before he nodded. No questions asked, the work shirt came off and was tossed over to them.

It was still damp and would taste like salt, but, "Bite this while I try to stitch your leg."

And stitch it he…tried. Twice.

He was security, not a doctor, and he'd be lying if he said he hadn't gagged at least once while trying to thread the needle through Schneeplestein's leg.

Maybe it would be harder than he thought.

"I-I, uh…don't think I can—"

A hand on his shoulder startled him.

Jameson had crawled over and now he was gesturing at the doctor's leg. _"Just…" _his hands hovered for a moment, like he was trying to think of what to say, _"think of it like steak?"_

Jackie could practically _feel _the color drain from his face. At least it seemed like Schneeplestein either wasn't paying attention or didn't understand sign so was oblivious to Jameson's words.

"I know you're tryin' to help, but that _really _didn't help."

The chef actually rolled his eyes at that and snatched the needle from Jackie's hands.

"You nearly drowned. You're _not _doing it; you need to just go rest."

Schneeplestein gave a huff—agreement? Jackie couldn't really tell.

"_You aren't going to do it, that much is obvious." _He nearly poked himself with the needle while signing and proceeded to glare at the offending object. _"I've had to stitch up my employees when they got careless with utensils. I can do it again for our doctor. Just help him hold his leg still and I've got this."_

All Jackie could think after Jameson got started with stitching the bites was that he was glad the doctor wasn't combat trained. He didn't feel like being knocked away or having his nose broken (again).

Instead, Schneeplestein just bit down on the shirt and…well, he tried to stay still, Jackie would give him that. His leg would occasionally twitch to try and pull away from the needle, or he'd pound a fist down on the floor of the lifepod, causing both Jackie and Jameson to startle at the resounding bang, but he was trying his damnedest to stay still through the pain.

"Almost done," Jackie finally said. He wasn't sure which of them was most relieved. Even the doctor, pale and sweat rather than seawater now the reason for his hair sticking to this forehead, let his shoulders slump as he nodded.

All Jameson had left to do was clean the wound again, wipe excess blood away, and bandage it.

It was honestly adorable the big smile he had as he finished up; the chef was so proud of himself!

"I think that's it then?" Jackie glanced between the other two; Jameson nodded. "Maybe they've got a basic habitat started out there."

"_Good. This pod is far too cramped."_

"Heh… Agreed. I'll go check, then bring you both down if it's ready." Jackie pulled the bottom hatch open, "James, good job. Thanks," and slipped into the water below.


	13. Frustrations

**Warnings: **_Minor Blood  
_Characters: Jameson Jackson, Dr. Schneeplestein, Jackieboy Man  
_POV: Jameson Jackson_

* * *

All they had was a single multi-purpose room. It was too small, too cramped, for the five of them plus their supplies that grew with every passing hour that they scavenged, but at least it was a lot better than a lifepod.

The others were already talking about going back to where Jameson had crashed to salvage parts and the Seamoth blueprint. Jameson could only gulp and quickly shake his head at the prospect; he wasn't going anywhere _close _to there again! His mind drifted back to O'Harris and his unfortunate end every time the thought occurred to him. He never wanted to see that place again.

Jackie had already partially pieced together a blueprint for a mobile vehicle bay after accidentally stumbling across a part of one. That was good, at least. It meant they were just another step closer to having a little bit easier of a time on this…well, frankly terrifying, planet.

They'd had a proper introduction of each other (with Jameson grinning at Chase and Jackie; they were friends of his from the ship!) then that was that and it was back to work.

Marvin and Chase had gone off toward Lifepod Seventeen to scavenge together. Jackie had opted to stay near the habitat to gather nearby materials. He'd already been in and out quite a few times.

That left Jameson and…the doctor. The grumpy doctor who'd been muttering and huffing and sighing the entire time like everything he was doing should be handled by someone else. The chef just rolled his eyes. Ranks were the last thing they'd be acknowledging right now, but Schneeplestein just carried on like the tasks were below him.

A part of him was tempted to turn off his hearing aid. Another part knew that would only earn him even more of an earful the next time he turned it on. So, he just shook his head and knelt down for another chunk of titanium to store in one of the lockers.

There was a certain "silence" for a while as Jameson worked on arranging supplies into new lockers, occasionally grabbing the builder to make another to keep organization smooth. He'd stopped paying attention to the doctor—he really wasn't doing much anyway.

He did have to admit he was impressed with the materials in such easy access on the planet. Gold, copper, quartz, lead? It was impressive! If only there was a geologist among them, or maybe a biologist; they'd probably be in awe of the planet!

…Despite it being terrifying.

Oh, who was he kidding, no one would want to be stuck here.

He coughed once, cleared his throat. Apparently he had to be watched for pneumonia after his near-drowning. He _really _hoped he didn't have or get it.

"Why even bother?" the doctor muttered. Jameson had to resist the urge to huff sharply. "Is not like we will be here long! Rescue will come!"

Placing a decent-sized chunk of gold on a shelf in the locker he'd designated for it, Jameson crossed his arms and arched a brow. Schneeplestein didn't know sign, so little use it would be to say anything aloud. Instead, he just offered a _look_.

Yes, rescue likely would come, wouldn't it? They were all holding out hope for that. But it was clear now that it could be a _long _wait.

The doctor just ducked his head and grumbled to himself, limping toward the fabricator near the entrance. Oh, now what was he doing?

It was just then that there was a sound of running water, then the wheel on the bulkhead turned sharply to allow a sopping Jackie entry to the habitat. Water was still draining from the entrance as he shut the door again, making sure it was tightly latched (leaving his Seaglide in the area between the hatch and the bulkhead instead of taking it with him into the main habitat…). His makeshift satchel was full again.

The moment he'd set it on the ground, words started tumbling out of his mouth.

"Okay," he breathed, "good news and bad news. But first, _ow_. That thing that got you, Doc? Those buggers are tiny but they _hurt. _Goddammit." It was only with that that Jameson noticed the tear in Jackie's suit, the exposed forearm beneath bleeding. It looked like just a grazing of teeth that would heal on its own, fortunately.

"_Is that the bad news?" _Jameson signed with his brows scrunched.

"Oh, god no. Okay, okay, you ever heard a recording of a whale? Okay, it was like that, and it was freaking _huge_ and—"

"Slow down," Schneeplestein growled.

The other two only cast him quick glares.

"Anyway," Jackie continued, seemingly unfazed by the rude interruption, "I was gathering titanium and then this _enormous _shadow blocked out the sun and I look up and—and oh god, that thing was terrifying! It was gigantic and there were three of them and a little baby too, and when they made the whale-sound I could _feel _it through it water!"

Jameson's eyes widened.

Yeah. He definitely wanted off this planet.

ASAP, preferably.

"_And…the good news..?"_

Jackie grinned at that. "Finished the mobile vehicle bay blueprint! So, if the other two got the Seamoth's, should just be able to get started on it right away when they get back!"

"_At least one of you is being helpful." _He cast a glare at the doctor with that.

Jackie just snorted in an attempt to stifle his laughter.


	14. Officer Keen

**Warnings: **_None  
_Characters: Jackieboy Man, Chase Brody, Marvin the Magnificent  
_POV: Jackieboy Man_

_((_ _Disclaimer: I uh. Lost my paper where I'd written down what triggers all of the events in the game and don't have the patience to make a new one or rewatch/replay a whole playthrough before continuing the fic- ^^" so yeah, I might write some things out of order without meaning to. I'll try to look up things in the wiki when I remember to, though ))_

* * *

They had the Seamoth blueprint, as with one for the mobile vehicle bay. They just needed to be built.

Jackie was grinning. He'd found the last piece for the vehicle bay. Now he just needed to toss all the supplies for it at their fabricator so Chase and Marvin could get the Seamoth pieces ready for it.

"Hey James!" Jackie glanced over his shoulder when Chase called for the chef. "You wanna get a radio put up on one of the walls?"

"_Of course," _Jameson signed, grabbing a builder out of one of the lockers. Damn were they organized so nicely now. Jackie was glad the man had done that; they could actually find the stuff they needed now!

The radio finished right about as the fabricator was finishing with the mobile vehicle bay. The light was blinking and Jackie grimaced.

"Uh…none of us have been up to Pod Five for a while, have we?" Jackie asked. Someone cleared his throat and there was a lot of shaking heads. "Let's hear it. Hopefully we're not too late."

Jameson jammed his thumb into the button and stepped back.

"_Playing pre-recorded distress call..."_

A voice—a _human _voice—spoke over the radio, _"This is Officer Keen in Lifepod 19! The captain is gone. I have assumed command. The last thing the captain did was give me co-ordinates for dry land. We regroup one and a half kilometers southwest of the crash site. Stay together. Good luck. This message will now repeat."_

Keen's voice gone just as quickly as it was there, everyone's PDAs chirped with, _"Rendezvous coordinates corrupted. Transmission origin coordinates downloaded."_

Silence.

Jackie was the first to break it. "…Did he say dry land?"

"He said southwest from the ship, but the coordinates got all effed up." Chase shook his head and smacked his PDA's screen. "But…we've got a signal for Pod Nineteen's exact location. We head there, maybe we'll find Keen or at least the coordinates he tried to send."

"And," the security guard added, "the mobile vehicle bay's finished. Could take a Seamoth once we've got it built 'cause that's a long way."

Marvin crossed his arms. "They're single-person, aren't they? Who's gonna go down there?"

The others glanced between each other, but Jackie only shrugged. "I mean. How hard can it be to pilot one? I'll go."

"Seamoth's gonna start with a depth max of…200 meters, I think?" Chase gestured at the bulkhead locked tight; just beyond it was the hatch that would take them outside the habitat. "You're not a good swimmer, but you'd have to swim the rest of the way to Nineteen."

"I'll bring a Seaglide. Besides, we don't know what's down that way. One of us gets attacked, best that it's me; at least I've got a chance of defendin' myself."

"Okay. Fair enough." He gestured for Marvin, then, "You get the vehicle bay up to the surface. We'll start bringin' the supplies topside."

Back-and-forth, back-and-forth, to and from the habitat and vehicle bay. If the Seamoth needed this many supplies, Jackie could just hope they wouldn't need a Cyclops. He didn't even _want _to think about how much it would need. That is, if they could even piece together a blueprint for one. Those things were apparently massive.

One last metal, then the little robots set into the vehicle bay got to work.

Jackie arched a brow. "Are they…_supposed_ to build it so high outta the water?"

Chase looked just as perplexed as he probably did. "I have no idea."

A little above the surface, sure. The little robots probably didn't want the vehicle flooding after all, but _that _high? Ah well. As long as they were doing what they were supposed to, then whatever.

"I'd get off the vehicle bay if I were you." Both men glanced back over their shoulders; Marvin was treading water a little ways away.

"…Why—"

Jackie's question was cut short when the Seamoth dropped into the water, its splash causing the bay to rock violently and throw both of them off of it. The security guard floundered back up to the surface, coughing and spluttering, and could hear Marvin laughing even through the water in his ears.

"Told you."

"How'd you know _that _would happen?"

"Because gravity's a thing and big objects make big splashes?"

"You suck."

The entertainer only laughed. "Yeah, yeah. Just take these," he shoved the Seaglide that had been floating next to him at Jackie, as well as a water bottle and first aid kit. "Find Keen or those coordinates."

"If you die, we'll kill you," Chase added helpfully as he tossed a rebreather at Jackie. When the repairman had gone back into the habitat to grab it, he had no idea.

Jackie snorted. "Okay, all right! I'll be careful. …Uh. Mind helpin' me get these in the Seamoth?" A poor swimmer with his arms full. That wasn't a disaster waiting to happen, he thought with a chuckle.

Rebreather on, first aid and Seaglide in easy reach, water bottle at his hip, broken flare pinned between his back and the seat for easy grabbing as he got out. How hard could this be?

The submersible lurched forward before he stopped it. Okay. A little touchy, but you've got this, he thought. He waved to his comrades through the windshield, held up his PDA and moved it until the signal for Nineteen came onscreen, then eased the Seamoth forward.

You've got this. Just…don't crash into anything. Easy.

The Seamoth took off.

Deeper, darker, heartbeat in his ears. This place gave him a bad feeling.

Bioluminescence. It stood out here, with the waters so dark. Trenches, that seemed to stretch on into darkness. Tight spaces that could render the Seamoth trapped and leave its pilot with a long way to the surface.

Jackie swallowed.

The Seamoth's warning beep startled him. He pulled back until the beeping stopped. He'd reached its limit. His turn.

He made sure his rebreather was sealed, Seaglide at full charge, tucked his "spear" under one arm.

Deep breath.

The windshield cracked itself open to allow the cabin to flood slowly, then swung up completely. When Jackie pushed it shut again, vents in the sides of the submersible activated to drain the water.

He could see Nineteen. It was still so far. He had plenty of air, but who knows what creatures were down here.

Just go, Jackie, he thought. Don't let your fear get to you.

The Seamoth dragged him through the water. Closer. Closer.

His stomach dropped when he saw the side torn open. Oh, god. Please tell me Keen got outta there?

Down, down—

A yelp was left muffled by his mouthpiece was something zipped past him. Another, a third. Where was it—there! A plant was—

He cursed, the word sounding like nonsense with his helmet. That plant—it shot _needles? _He bit down on the mouthpiece and yanked one out of his thigh. As the plant kept firing the sharp little projectiles, Jackie darted the last stretch for the lifepod; he could hear one last needle strike the metal when he got inside, then the plant stopped.

He grabbed his scanner from his hip and scanned the needle he'd been struck with. No venom. Good. Just a sharp little bugger. He'd have to warn the others to watch out for those plants. Who knew a plant could be so feisty?

With the light on his Seaglide shining bright, he swept it through the pod, looking for signs of—there! A little data log. Not a PDA. That's a good sign. It told him Keen might have gotten out and taken his PDA with him.

Jackie snatched up the log and inserted it into his PDA.

Keen's voice carried over from the device, _"To all crew: If you are reading this then you have followed the automatic distress signal broadcast by this lifepod's onboard computer, contrary to my orders."_ Jackie rolled his eyes. Can't really follow his orders if the coordinates were corrupted; that's why I'm here in the first place! he thought. "_I have been forced to evacuate. Your orders are to disregard my safety and attempt to reach the designated rendezvous co-ordinates at the nearest landmass. I hope to see you there."_

His PDA chirped. Coordinates. Actual coordinates to dry land.

Jackie would have grinned if not for the rebreather.

He was just about to go darting back to the Seamoth when a light next to the pod caught his eye. He reached for it—flipping off the plant when a needle nearly caught his hand—and snatched it up before making a beeline back to his vehicle. The moment the water drained from the cabin, he threw the helmet off and inserted the new data file into his PDA.

"_Ultra _high capacity tank?" The blueprint downloaded immediately. Well, that's one less thing to worry about.

Now, he really did grin. Keen was probably alive on the landmass (the _dry land _he now had coordinates for!). Maybe other survivors were there, too.

Jackie just had to get back to their habitat and share the good news.


	15. Floating Island

**Warnings: **_Swearing, Non-Explicit Nudity_**  
**Characters: Chase Brody, Jackieboy Man, Marvin the Magnificent, Jameson Jackson, Dr. Schneeplestein  
_POV: Chase Brody_

_(( nudity warning is a just-in-case thing, but they're just just changing!  
you can see their designs for this AU blitzsdesignvault on Tumblr ))_

* * *

Night had fallen by the time Jackie got back to the habitat.

Chase couldn't help the massive grin to cross his face when all of their PDAs beeped, the coordinates automatically transferring from Jackie's to theirs.

"Dry land," he breathed. "Holy shit."

"_What about Keen?" _Jameson asked, brows furrowed.

Jackie shrugged. Chase wasn't sure he liked that shrug. "He wasn't there, but left a message to get to the landmass ASAP. Also a scolding for going to the pod instead'a straight there."

"Well?" Henrik threw an impatient hand toward the bulkhead. "Are we going or not? I am fucking sick of the water."

Chase had to bite his tongue to keep from saying something snarky. Instead, he just crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. "Dude. You _really _want to swim there _at night? _These coords are like, a kilometer from here, and we don't know what kinda shit's in the water between here and there. We'll wait for morning, make sure we've all got working Seaglides and batteries, and _then_ we'll head out."

"One question." Marvin ran a hand through his mess of hair. "If it's only a kilometer away, how is it we can't see it from here?"

They all exchanged glances. That…was a good question…

They learned that, even after not resting the previous night, sleep was a fitful thing.

No beds left them on the hard floor of their habitat and trying not to elbow or kick each other. There was a point that Henrik woke up yelping as someone stretched, shoving a foot into his injured ankle, while Jackie's snoring would occasionally splutter to startle most awake. And, many times, something would bump against the habitat from outside and anyone unlucky enough to be awoken by it would be left bolting upright and throwing wild looks through the cramped room and at each other.

It was cold, it was uncomfortable, they were stripped down to their underwear because their dive suits were wet and it was beyond awkward, and they were all lucky to get any more than a few hours of sleep before sunlight filtered in through the room's single window.

Chase yawned and rubbed at his burning eyes. When he sat up, he couldn't help but grimace. God, his whole body ached. Going straight from nonstop swimming to sleeping on a hard floor couldn't be good for his muscles.

Jameson looked like the only one with any semblance of energy as he pulled himself to his feet and went straight for one of the lockers. From it, he grabbed his hearing aid.

Well. That would explain it. The noises they all heard throughout the night wouldn't have bothered James at all.

Chase just shook his head. "Lucky bastard," he chuckled.

All he got in response was a smug, toothy grin. The chef had a little bounce to his step as he grabbed what they had for food and water to pass around to the rest of them, though he was being careful with how he moved his arms.

"Aren't you sore, man?"

"_A tad bit, yes," _he replied once his hands were free to sign. _"But I didn't do nearly as much swimming as the rest of you."_

"Fair enough."

Chase…really wasn't looking forward to going back in the water. His body felt like it would scream at him if he did. But! They had things to do and dry land to get to! That thought alone was enough for him to push through the deep ache and pull himself to his feet while nibbling on the nutrient bar he'd been given.

Eesh, they tasted like cardboard. Really, Alterra? That's the best you could do?

The others were moving about as slow as him as they struggled to get up. Marvin's long limbs nearly tripped him as he stifled a yawn during his attempt to stand, while Henrik used the wall for support. He was barely letting his injured leg touch the ground, and was it bleeding again? There were little specks of blood soaked through the bandages. When he was kicked last night it must have broken some of the stitches. Ouch.

"Okay—" Chase yawned; the others couldn't help themselves from doing the same, "—Jackie and Marv, you two wanna craft us one more Seaglide and some more batteries? I'm gonna check over the 'Glides we already have to make sure they're safe for the trip. And…James, could we have you check Doc's leg while we're doing that?"

"Uh. Sure?" Jackie shrugged. "But why do ya want to check them? They're working fine."

Chase's mouth twitched. "We haven't tried 'em for this sort of distance before, and considerin' my crew was killed when theirs blew up? You're nuts if you think I'm lettin' that happen again."

"I—oh, god." Jackie's eyed were wide. "I didn't know—I—"

"I think we all lost friends, man. Let's just get off his damn planet."

"Right. Yeah."

Pulling their wetsuits on was even more of a struggle than Chase had imagined. They'd turned their backs to each other and stripped completely to pull their suits on, but they could all still hear each other grimacing and hissing as sore muscles rebelled against the tight fabric.

"This sucks," he grumbled.

Even Henrik made a sound of agreement.

When most of them had finally managed to pull the zippers up to their throats, Jameson was still struggling. He had one arm in a sleeve, but was struggling with the other, gritting his teeth, pressing a hand to his chest. Chase had about forgotten about the man's fractured ribs and grimaced sympathetically.

"Here. Let me help."

He got a relieved sigh and nod, with Jameson squeezing his eyes shut when Chase took hold of his arm to gently position it into the sleeve. Yeah, James was _definitely _going to be the one taking the Seamoth.

"Hey… I thought you needed glasses?"

The chef looked up at him and blinked, then gestured for his work clothes laying in a messy pile near everyone else's. _"They might be in the pocket of my jeans." _His shoulders shook in a silent chuckle. _"So much going on I'd forgotten to put them on!"_

"That why you ran into a locker while Jackie was gone yesterday?" Chase laughed when the man's ears turned red; Jackie snorted and gave a "wait, really?" sort of look their way. "Lemme grab 'em."

Sure enough, the circle-framed glasses were there. Their case had a big crack in it, but the glasses themselves looked all right.

With that done, everyone set to work.

It didn't take them long—Chase made a few little tweaks to one of their Seaglides that looked like it had been dropped, while they already had most of the supplies for batteries and another Seaglide stored in lockers—and they were left waiting for Jameson and Henrik.

"_It's still inflamed." _His signs were clumsy with a needle in one hand. _"But I've re-stitched where they broke, and I think the wrap will hold."_

"Okay. I guess we should head out, then."

Four with Seaglides, Jameson helped into the Seamoth, and they took off as soon as he had the controls figured out.

Chase squinted into the distance. Low-hanging clouds created a fog. He hadn't really noticed it before, but that fog had to be hiding the landmass. He ducked under the surface, swimming alongside the Seamoth that would occasionally zip ahead of them before Jameson let back on the touchy controls enough to keep to their slower pace.

Eventually, the two glanced at each other when they saw the shadows in the distance. Shadows that weren't moving. Shadows, illuminated by…_something. _Chase poked his head above the surface—land!—ducked back under, tried to process what he was seeing.

With one hand, the sign messy but more or less understandable, he asked, _"Is this island floating?!"_

Jameson did the same: Raised the Seamoth up enough to see the land looming ahead of them, then right back down to look at what should have been a mountainside. Instead, it was jutting pillars of stone that pointed down into the pitch-black waters below, glowing pink… Oh! Whoa… He'd seen those things, only much, _much _smaller versions of them floating rocks in the shallows. How were they this big?! Were they the reason the island was floating? Incredible…

They were both staring with wide eyes, their companions above oblivious to the sight just below.

As they drew nearer the island, Chase could make out sunlight slicing right into the center of it. There was a hole there. Maybe a way to get on the island, too; he couldn't see any beaches low enough for them to reach along the exterior so worth a shot, right?

He went back up, pushed his mask up on his forehead to he could call to the others. "Hey! Dive under, I think there's a way on the island down there!"

Glances cast around, then they followed him down.

The other three froze when they saw the sight that had greeting him and Jameson. He could see their thoughts clear as day on their faces: "Holy shit."

His hunch was right, too. Right smack-dab in the middle of the island was a bay, and in that bay, a beach.

On the beach, two sets of footprints.

As soon as they were on land, they all fought to get their flippers off, then bolted after the footprints. Marvin and Jameson, however, lagged behind. When Chase glanced back, he noticed they were looking at…something.

"Uh, guys? Why don't we go find the other survivors?"

"There's a PDA," the performer said, reaching down to snatch it up. "It looks like it was thrown."

"Thrown?" Jackie arched a brow.

"Look at the marks in the sand around it, and the screen's cracked to hell. It was thrown."

"Well…does it have anything on it?" Chase asked, leaning in a little.

"Uh… Yeah. Single recording."

Jackie tilted his head. "That's not right. Should have other stuff, right?"

"Yeah…" Chase answered. "Unless the user needed a single message prioritized and everything else is just locked, or the user died, so the PDA…recorded the last moments…" He rubbed at his beard and glared. "…I don't like this. Play the recording. Could be important."

CTO Yu and Keen started speaking; she wanted to board the ship, attempt to repair it. She was ready to go alone, but Keen chose—unwillingly, from the sounds of it—to accompany her.

Chase about opened his mouth—it seemed like a normal recording—but clamped it shut again when the damaged PDA crackled out, _"Final recording from Second Officer Keen, two hours after last activity."_

Keen's voice—out of breath, terrified—cut through the silence to fall over the group. He was breathing heavily, like he was running from something. _"Rendezvous was a failure," _he gasped out. _"Intercepted a transmission from Alterra HQ; seems they sent a data package to the _Aurora. _We attempted to leave the island and were intercepted. Something's here. It's hunting us. Get off the island—consider the CTO and I dead." _He paused. When he spoke again, he'd lowered his voice to but a whisper. _"Be safe. Keen… Out."_


	16. Abandoned

**Warnings: **_Swearing  
_Characters: Marvin the Magnificent, Jameson Jackson, Dr. Schneeplestein, Chase Brody, Jackieboy Man  
_POV: Marvin the Magnificent_

_(( note: I haven't played/watched gameplay for Below Zero yet, so please don't spoil anything for me! Things from this fic might retcon stuff that happens in it, and I apologize if they do, but I don't want to spoil any more of the game for myself than what already has been 'til I can play the whole thing through myself ))_

* * *

Silence.

Pale Faces.

Keen's words hung in the air between them.

"…We need to help him." Jackie's voice startled the rest of them from their shocked trance.

Marvin swallowed. Shook his head. Oh, _hell _no. "Are you _insane?!" _He ran his hands through his hair with a shaky breath. "There's somethin' here! We need to get off this island!"

"I am not putting my life on the line for someone else," the doctor growled.

Jameson signed something—Marvin had no idea what it was, but his frantic nodding had him figuring that the chef agreed with them.

"He's in danger!" the security guard insisted. "The recording was recent—he could still be alive!"

"Jackie's right."

Marvin's head whipped toward Chase when he agreed. "No. No, no, no. He'd been so damn calm in his other messages, and how he's panicking! You really want to run into whatever made _Keen _panic?!"

Chase frowned. "It's a small island. How bad could it be?"

Their three-against-two changed when Jameson ducked his head, then offered an agreeing nod. He was signing again—Marvin would really need to learn those, wouldn't he?—and the other two so…_hellbent _on saving Keen sagged with relief.

"Really no other way to change your minds?" the entertainer asked.

"We've gotta find Keen," Jackie repeated, "and hopefully Yu, too. There were only two of 'em, there's five of us."

"Yeah!" Chase was tucking his flippers and Seaglide near some…ferns? was that what they were?

"And if something _does _come after us?" Marvin challenged, gesturing harshly first at the doctor, then Jameson. "Doc's ankle is fuckin' shredded and James's got broken ribs. They'd be picked off easy."

"Anything attacks either of them—_any _of us—" Jackie hoisted up his broken flare in threat; he didn't have to say any more than that.

Marvin and Henrik glanced at each other. For once, it seemed like they were both on the same page: They did _not _want to meet whatever had gone after Keen. Did the other three just not understand self-preservation? God…

He tossed his flippers near where the others were putting theirs. His air tank and Seaglide followed, but he was far more careful not to throw those down.

Seeing Henrik's flippers actually laying with everyone else's made him double-take. Marvin had always thought _he _had big feet. Definitely made sense why both of them had needed more materials than the original dive suit blueprint had called for.

Deep breath. The others were leaving the beach, leaving the two of them behind. Well, Marvin would much rather stick with the group than be left alone on the island.

"Come on," he grumbled. He really wished they'd brought survival knives. He'd feel a little better if he could at least defend himself. "So!" he called ahead—both Chase and Jackie glanced back at him. "Any plan for what we're gonna do if we find whatever went after them?"

"Depends on what it is, I guess." Chase shrugged; he was walking backwards now.

Marvin just frowned and shook his head, watched the path ahead of them.

Wait.

…Path?

Henrik was eyeing it, too.

"Please tell me you're thinking the same thing."

"Something has traveled this same route for a long while, yes."

They were following the path, and Marvin couldn't help the unease settling into his gut. The feeling only amplified when they came across an old habitat and its overgrown garden.

Glances cast around, and Jackie was the first to approach the settlement.

It looked abandoned. Falling apart. Broken windows.

It had been there a long time.

"…I don't think we're the first to get stranded here," Jackie said, voice soft.

Then, he was suddenly yelping; Marvin and the others jumped and scrambled away. From the way Marvin saw it, he was acting solely on instinct when he swung his flare and the little ankle-biter of a creature went flying.

When he blinked at it, Marvin actually found it in himself to snort. Was that thing some kind of…crab?

"Scared the hell outta me," Jackie muttered, "but there's no way that's what had Keen panicked."

"Unless he got swarmed?" Marvin suggested.

"Maybe..? I'm don't know…"

Chase cleared his throat, pointing to the habitat. "They had to have made it off the planet, right?" Chase was inching forward, toward the multipurpose room's shattered window. It looked like a mudslide had caused it. "I mean, it's clearly been abandoned a long time."

Marvin's eyes were scanning the old habitat. He didn't like this.

"Yo, check this thing out!"

When Chase tried bolting in through the broken window, Marvin grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him back. "That window's _broken_. You really want to step on glass with bare feet?"

"But look!"

Marvin's gaze followed his pointing finger. There was…_something_, in the room. Glowing. It didn't look like anything he'd ever seen before. "What is that thing..?"

"I mean. It looks like the mud's covered all the glass?"

When Marvin's grip slackened, he must have taken that as a go-ahead and ran into the room. He was careful while climbing through the window not to cut himself on any of the glass that still remained, and when he came back he had something in each hand.

"There was a data log, too. Also, this thing's surprisingly light? Like…what is it?"

He gave the data log to Jackie to put in his PDA, then set the glowing whatever-it-was on the ground between all of them.

"Is like a tablet," Henrik said.

"Yeah," Chase agreed, "but it doesn't look human."

It seemed Marvin and Henrik had the same idea when they both reached for their scanners. Marvin's scan finished first, and everyone's PDAs chirped as the data was transmitted to all of them. When he read the information, he only shook his head.

"I _really _doubt it's human. Estimated to being abandoned here hundreds-to-thousands of years ago? Yeah, definitely not ours."

"Alien technology?" Henrik winced as he knelt down to pick it up, ran his fingers over the glowing purple symbol. "What were these people doing with it?"

"Well, from the sounds of it," Jackie said—another chirp as the data log transferred from his device to the rest of theirs, "—they found it, and also had no idea what it was."

"They? How many?"

"I count four people in the recording. Three men and a woman, but I'm relying on the PDA translating for me 'cause they're definitely not speaking English."

Marvin opened the new file on his own device, listened for a moment, then shut it off to read over the translation instead. "Sounds like they were from a Mongolian settlement. I don't speak it, but I've performed for one a few times."

Four people had lived in this now-abandoned habitat: Two Torgals (probably related, he figured), Sepse, Maida. Where had they gone..?

When Chase and Jackie explored the rest of the habitat and came back with a few more data logs, it looked like where they'd gone was deeper. Much, _much, _deeper.

Apparently they were part of Torgal Corporation—no wonder the names were familiar. Paul was the head of the company and had gone missing about ten years ago. It hadn't been the same since.

…Ten years ago. God. They'd never made it off the planet, had they? Would that be their fate, too? He could feel his stomach twisting.

Bart was Paul's son and heir to the company, Marguerit Maid a hired mercenary, and Antony Sepse a microbiologist.

He could see it in the pale faces of his comrades they all feared the same fate, and it was Chase to break their silence.

"I…I kinda doubt we're in the mood now, but I see two more habitats." He outstretched an arm, pointing. "There, and there." Perched oh so precariously at the tops of two mountain peaks were, sure enough, two more habitats clear even through the fog that seemed to have lifted some. "C'mon. We can still try findin' Keen and Yu. Who knows. Maybe we'll have better luck than that group did."

Marvin closed his eyes and took a slow, steadying breath. They'd find a way off the planet. They had to. But…did that really mean rescue never came for that group..? No, don't think about it, he scolded himself. Instead, he offered a hand to help Henrik back to his feet, and the five of them started for one of the habitats.

What they found didn't lift their spirits any. A PDA, not a data log, met them. Bart and Antony—the other two were dead?—regretting going down so far. Bart was ill in the recording. With the scientist's help, they were trying to find a cure, but failing. One of them mentioned that Antony was wearing a special suit—some sort of hazmat diving suit—that had kept him from catching the same illness, and now left him needing to be extremely careful not to touch Bart with his bare hands.

Then it was over. Nothing more to the recording; just a dying man and one of his crew members trying to save him.

"I'm really startin' to hate this planet," Chase growled. "What do you think he had?"

Instead of an answer, Henrik pulled his scanner from his hip and ran a scan on himself. The answer had Marvin furrowing his brow.

"_Performing self-scan. Vital signs normal. Detecting trace amounts of foreign bacteria. Continuing to monitor."_

He aimed it at Jameson. Same answer. Jackie: Same. Every one of them ended up with the same results. "Trace amounts of foreign bacteria" just kept looping in Marvin's head. That couldn't be good. Right? How the hell would they even have it? They didn't even know that it was the same thing Bart had, but a part of Marvin very much was suspecting that it was.

"Could just be…I dunno, some sorta alien flu?" Chase shook his head and stood a little straighter. "We'll keep an eye on it, okay? Don't let it get to you, though. We'll worry about it if we need to."

If we need to, Marvin's thoughts parroted. As if they hadn't just listened to a man dying in a recording.

"…Do we_ really_ want to check that last habitat?" Marvin leaned out the door to peer across at it. "Things are just getting fuckin' worse and worse on this island."

Keen and Yu attacked by something. Survivors from ten years before who'd probably died long before rescue could even hope to find them. Some weird alien artifact that Henrik and Jameson were taking turns carrying. An alien sickness.

"Whatever is there can only be the cherry on top, yes?" Henrik grumbled. He was leaning against the wall, foot held off the ground. Jameson was sitting on the floor near him, eyes squeezed shut and hand pressed to his chest.

"Besides," Marvin added, "those two clearly need a rest, and I am _not _resting on this island. Far as we know, whatever went after Keen and Yu could be, oh I don't know, _watching us?!"_

Chase grimaced and gave Jackie a look.

"We, ah…" He ran a hand through his bleached hair, fingers catching the tangled curls. "What if we have them head back to the habitat? And…you can join 'em?"

Jackie started nodding. "We can't just abandon those two if they're still alive. I'm not doin' it."

"And splitting up is probably the worst thing we can do," Marvin muttered.

"We either split up, or all go to the next habitat together. I'm not leavin' this damn island until we at least know what happened to them." Chase crossed his arms, closing himself off for further debate. He'd made up his mind and there was no way Marvin was going to change it.

"Fine." Marvin pinched the bridge of his nose. "Fine. I want them alive just as much as you do, but I'm not risking my life for them."

Chase shouldered past him. "Then let's get back to the damn beach so you can leave. Fuckin' hell."

Did Marvin feel guilty for it? Sure. Did he feel awful leaving just the two of them on the island while he took their injured comrades back to their habitat? Sure.

Was he going to risk his life for someone who sounded like they probably dead anyway? Hell no. Marvin knew his priorities, and that definitely wasn't one of them. He felt bad for Keen and Yu, holped that whatever killed them hadn't let them suffer, or that they _had_, by some miracle, survived—but he wasn't going to stick his neck out for them.

He'd had enough near-death experiences these last few days to last a lifetime, thank you very much.

Flippers back on, air tanks attached to their masks, Jameson helped into the Seamoth, and they were off.

His only thoughts were "good luck" when he glanced over his shoulder, saw Chase and Jackie at the edge of the island now, watching for them to make sure they made it a safe distance away. Then the two of them disappeared into the brush.

Good luck, he thought. You're gonna need it.


	17. Just Like Them

**Warnings:** _Swearing, Mild Violence, Knives, Character Injury, Drowning  
_Characters: Jackieboy Man, Chase Brody, Second Officer Keen, Antisepticeye  
_POV: Jackieboy Man_

* * *

They'd hiked back off the beach and toward the edge of the island to watch the ocean beyond. It was only when they saw their three comrades making their way away, back toward their own habitat, that Jackie and Chase glanced at each other, then headed off to find a way up to the third abandoned habitat.

When they found the stone bridge over the bay right in the island's center, Jackie paused to look down at the island below.

"Hey…" he said, bare feet scraping through the dirt to copy the marks he already found there. A footprint—a footprint that dragged through the dirt. "Think I found where Keen threw his PDA from."

"Holy shit…" Chase shook his head and leaned over the edge. "Y'know if he'd missed the beach, it would've sunk, right? I don't know how deep the water under this place goes, but I _do _know I couldn't see the bottom when we were under the island. It _probably _would've been lost forever."

"Yeah. And taking that risk tells us he _really _wanted us outta here."

"How bad could it be? All we've seen so far are those crab thingies."

"Speaking of…" Jackie raised his "spear" when one of them lunged at him.

Both men were left gagging as he got it straight through the eye. Okay… Let's not spear one of those things ever again. _Yuck._

Chase had pulled out his scanner, and Jackie was left cringing away when he ran a scan over the thing's mutilated eye that seemed to second as its body. "Cave Crawler," he snorted. "Ever-creative with your names, huh scanner?"

"Oh, come on." He grabbed Chase by the arm and dragged him onward.

Up, up, up the mountain. Around and round it, and then they paused, lunged across where the overgrown path had collapsed away, and continued their upward climb. This one was steeper than the other, Jackie noted. He could feel rocks tearing at the soles of his feet every time he slipped in the slightest, and they were both huffing by the time they got to the top.

There it was. The third habitat. What new horrific data would they find in there..?

A shake of the head. No. Don't think that way.

Glancing at each other, they approached. The bulkhead was hanging off its hinges, and Jackie jumped when he tried to push it open farther, only for the heavy door to crash to the ground and nearly land on his toes. Well. That would've hurt.

They snooped around, gave the indoor garden a strange look. Weren't those same things growing all over? Why keep them inside, too? Found another data log that Chase put into his PDA but didn't press play on as he scanned the ground for any more.

They heard a thud, then Jackie felt himself pushed away from the ladder that would have taken them to the second story of the habitat.

Whatever shoved him had shouted, but the cry died in his throat as he lowered the branch he'd very nearly been ready to crack over the security guard's head.

Jackie's eyes widened and he could practically _hear _Chase's grin in his giddy little shout of, "Keen!"

The second officer was battered, beaten, and the look in his eyes could only be described as "terrified." But he was alive.

"…Did you find my PDA?" His voice was small and eyes kept darting toward the door.

Chase stepped up to Jackie's side. "Yeah! We figured you needed hel—"

"I said to leave the island." The sudden change in his tone startled Jackie. It had hardened, almost furious. "He'll kill us as he killed the CTO."

Jackie swallowed. "Yu's dead..?"

"_He?" _Chase added. "Not—not _it, _or _they, _but _he?! _Who the hell would—?"

Another survivor? Had they had a fucking…_murderer _on board or something?!

Keen's head snapped toward the door. He ducked low, branch held like it was a baseball bat. "He knows we're here."

"What?!"

"He heard us!"

Jackie tightened his grip on his spear. "Do I want to know what he did to Yu?"

A shake of the head—Keen wouldn't tear his gaze away from the opening. "He slit her throat and threw her body in the water."

"Why would he—"

Footsteps. They dragged over the dirt outside, slow and quiet. Heavy breathing was muffled—behind a mask? The figure was pacing.

Watching.

Waiting.

"Couldn't we reason with him?" Chase hissed.

Another shake of the head. "That man has lost any and all humanity. The CTO attempted ot speak with him and died for it. We won't make that same mistake."

Baring his teeth and hefting his spear up, Jackie tucked himself beside the opening. He gave the other two a _look_, throwing his head toward it. "Well? Get running!" Before either could answer, he was bolting out and shoving the shaft of his spear against the killer's chest, pushing him toward the cliff.

The first thing he noticed was that the man was in a weird suit. Ahh…hazmat diving suit, that's what it was, right? The next was his voice—when he shouted something and pushed back against the weapon forcing him backward, it wasn't English. Mongolian. Marvin had said…the survivors from ten years before them…were Mongolian…

The faded name badge at the man's chest was barely legible. Bleached by the sun, scraped away with time, but there it was.

_SEPSE._

Jackie hesitated, staring the name down, just long enough for one hard shove to send him sprawling on his back. He could hear the other two bolting down the mountain's overgrown path, and when he looked up he could see the glint of a survival knife. In the slowly subsiding fog, it was almost eerie to look up and see the knife, to see the man's eyes behind his mask. The blade was chipped and small from years of resharpening it as it grew dull again. It was stained green with the blood of the planet's creatures.

Keen was right. There was no humanity left in those eyes. Just a wild light, confused, feral.

_Furious._

He rolled away, heart thundering when the blade came down right where his neck had been a moment ago, and scrambled toward the path. He looked down the path, then down the mountain; he'd never make it going the way they'd come up and that side of the mountain was steep, but not deathly so.

He could hear Sepse behind him. He went for it, feeling the blade graze his shoulder as he started sliding. Down, down, down, he felt the ground tear into his thigh, his feet, his hands, heard his dive suit rip, felt sticks and stones stabbing him, scraping, shredding.

He hit the bottom and rolled, could hear Sepse growling something he couldn't understand from the top. Jackie couldn't see the other two, but they were calling for him from…somewhere. From the bridge. They were already at the bridge.

Footsteps. Sepse was…_running _down the path, despite Chase and Jackie's trouble getting up there he was surefooted with every step like he'd taken that same path a thousand times. Maybe he had. Who was Jackie to know for sure?

Wincing, hissing between his teeth, Jackie dragged himself to his feet, grabbed his spear that he'd managed not to stab himself with on the way down that _wonderful _slide, and ran.

Shocks of pain shot through his feet, his leg as he ran. Every step hurt. Every step aggravated the wounds torn into his flesh from stones, the dirt made them sting even more.

Sepse was nearing the bottom. He was still shouting. What was he _saying?!_

The bridge! There it was. The question was, would he make it? He could hear the other man tearing through the brush—he was so much faster than Jackie, who was left limping.

He made it to the bridge. Sepse was right behind him—!

Jackie jumped.

The panic didn't set in until he was already hitting the water. It stung, like a slap, and the salt burned the cuts and scrapes, his eyes stung, which way was up? He floundered for the surface, swallowed water, spluttered when there were arms around him to drag his head back above water.

They were saying something, but their voices were muffled by the water slowly draining from his ears.

"—need to go! Now!" Chase's voice. He felt his oxygen tank and mask strapped on, grabbed blindly when one of the Seaglides was shoved into his hands. Chase mentioned that he'd go without one, that Keen needed it more since he'd lost his tank somewhere on the island, and Jackie felt a hand on his write to guide him under the island as he blinked the blurriness away.

When he could see clearly again, he realized it was Keen's hand; the second officer was managing to keep his own Seaglide steady while also guiding Jackie's. Chase was a short ways behind them when they finally broke the surface.

No sign of Sepse following them. Maybe he'd disappeared back to wherever he'd been hiding when they first arrived.

"Well, that was… Something?" Chase offered, pushing his mask up on his forehead.

"You disobeyed a direct order."

"And you're still alive 'cause of it, aren't you? Sorry man, but ranks are the last thing I'm gonna worry about out here. Priority One's surviving." Chase then gestured wildly at Jackie, grinning as he ignored the officer's disgruntled scowl. "And you, holy shit, dude! You just… You rushed that guy head-on! And…you're in pretty rough shape." He chuckled, "What, fall off the mountain or somethin'?"

"Somethin' like that." Jackie coughed, spitting up the last of the water he'd swallowed, then shook his head. "That was the guy from the last recording we heard. The Antony guy."

"Dude. That recording's like, ten years old."

"He's right." Keen's eyes tracked back to the island—god, the poor guy looked exhausted. "Antony Sepse. He was a microbiologist for Torgal Corp. I'm…not sure how he's survived so long." He gestured to Chase, then. "You picked up a data log from that habitat. Have you listened yet?"

"Well, no. Soon as I had it, you tried to club Jackie, so haven't really had the time. …Right. Playin' it now."

Jackie kept one hand on his Seaglide, the other reaching for his own PDA. He grimaced when he noticed that it was cracked. Probably from his impromptu not-so-slip-'n'-slide. It still worked when he checked for the voice logs, thankfully. There was a new one: The one Chase had grabbed. He didn't bother listening and instead went straight for the text version.

_ANTONY SEPSE: I buried Bart this morning. He didn't make it. It's a nice little spot, under all the trees he liked._

A harsh laugh that was really more a bard came from Chase's PDA as he played the actual audio. It startled Jackie into nearly dropping his own device to the abyss below.

_Now I'm alone. They're all dead. What the hell were we thinking?_

And…that was all there was. Jackie glared down at the text. Keen's expression about matched.

He no longer had a PDA and had only listened to Chase's audio.

…Did that mean he understood Sepse?

"Uh, hey, Keen?" Jackie closed out the file and clipped his PDA back to his hip. "You understood that?"

"Yes?"

"Then do you know what Sepse was shouting at us?"

Another glance toward the island. His brows furrowed. "He was saying we would poison him. He called us 'diseased, just like them.'"

"That's it?"

"He…kept repeating it, yes. Like a mantra."

* * *

**AN: **_he'll explain it in the next chapter since I couldn't find anywhere to put it without it seeming forced, but Keen didn't jump of the bridge himself like Jackie because he got on the island from the south beach and had no idea the bay went straight through and could've been used as an escape. He thought he would've been trapped doing that _


	18. Survivor Six

**Warnings: **_Swearing, Character Injury, Mentioned Character Death  
_Characters: Marvin the Magnificent, Dr. Schneeplestein, Jameson Jackson, Jackieboy Man, Chase Brody, Second Officer Keen  
_POV: Marvin the Magnificent_

_ (( take three for writing this chapter :'D JJ and Henrik's POVs didn't cooperate, but fortunately Marv's did! Because of it taking three attempts, I'm not gonna make you wait any longer by doing my final rewrite edit that I usually do, so apologies for errors! ))_

* * *

They'd arrived back at the habitat maybe an hour or so ago, and Marvin was fiddling with his PDA when banging startled him. Turning it off, he tipped his head questioningly at Jameson. The younger man was hitting his fist against the wall to get their attention. That explained the noise.

He pointed, then, signing…something. Marvin couldn't read the signs, but let his eyes follow Jameson's outstretched finger toward the window.

Marvin stood with his brows furrowing; somewhere behind him, he could hear Henrik hiss between his teeth as he re-wrapped the wound in his leg after checking on it. Eyes widening, he saw exactly what the chef had been pointing at.

"There's…three of them. Please tell me I'm not seein' things."

He felt Henrik move to his side to get a better look. "…Yes. Yes, see it, too."

Three shadows approached—two with Seaglides, one without. The one without the device was keeping surprisingly good pace with the other two.

"Maybe it's Yu or Keen?" Marvin suggested, pursing his lips. He couldn't help feeling a little pang of guilt. He'd been so adamant about leaving the island, and now it seemed like one of them had survived? He could barely hide his cringe when there was clanging from the entrance.

The outside hatch was opened and slammed shut again, then the drainage systems activated. It was only with the sound of the pumps falling silent that the bulkhead was shoved open. One Seaglide was left in the entrance (probably Jackie's; he was really good at leaving it in bad places).

The second was in the hands of—

There stood Second Officer Keen: Slouching, exhausted, covered in cuts and bruises, but very much alive. He looked like he could pass out right where he stood.

"Status?" he demanded instead, his cutting stare going straight for Henrik. When the doctor stood silent for apparently too long, Keen elaborated with, "Injuries? Survivor count?"

"Counting you," he started, "is only six remaining—all in this room. Jackson—" he nodded for the chef, "—has fractured ribs and is being watched for pneumonia. Brody and Magnus both suffered minor concussions." There was a grimace as the doctor shifted his weight to let off on his injured leg a little. "I was bitten by one of the fish—a 'Biter.' The rest of our injuries consist of scrapes, bruises, and cuts that will heal on their own."

Marvin…wasn't so sure of that last bit. Not when he took a good look at Jackie and cleared his throat to get Henrik's attention, then gestured for the security guard.

"What the hell happened to him?!"

Scrapes, and cuts, and a torn divesuit, bloodied where the water hadn't washed it away on the swim back to the habitat. The fabric at his thigh was ripped apart completely, revealing the filthy shredded skin beneath it that was already discolored with a nasty bruise that had Marvin grimacing. He was also walking funny, wincing with every step even as Chase kept an arm around him.

"Did you fall off the goddamn mountain?!"

"Heh… It's really that obvious?"

Marvin had to hide his snort.

"_What?"_

"Can you just like. Wrap me up or somethin', please? It hurts, and we've got shit to tell ya."

The entertainer moved forward to help Chase with supporting the other man, walking him to a less-cluttered part of the habitat to sit him down. "Why?" Marvin asked. "Find more data logs?"

Chase snorted. "Yeah. That and more."

The sound of ripping fabric filled the habitat as Henrik tore Jackie's suite to get to the injury in his thigh. He was scowling, because of course he was. "Well? Spit it out!"

"Well…" Chase rubbed the back of his neck. "There's another survivor. So, seven of us I guess. But like. Not from the _Aurora. _It was the Antony guy from the recordings."

Eyes widening against his will, Marvin shook his head. "But… That recording was ten years old. How is that possible?"

"He's found a way to survive—" Keen's voice startled Marvin; he'd about forgotten the officer was there, "—as will we."

"Then why didn't you bring him here? I don't under—"

"He has been in solitude for so long that his humanity is nonexistent and he attempted to kill us," Keen interrupted. "He already succeeded in doing so with the CTO. He called us 'diseased' and claimed we would poison him. The man's gone mad. He can _stay _on the island." The sharp edge to his tone was softened only by his grimacing as he sank to the floor with his back against the wall. He was still in his uniform, but one sleeve was shredded, both knees torn, and cuts ripped into the fabric throughout it revealed matching ones on the skin beneath. All in all, he was a _mess_.

After he was silent for a while, he added, "We must avoid that island. Sepse knows this planet far better than we do, but with any luck he remains close to it when and if he's ever in the water. The animals here, we can learn how they act. A human? Too unpredictable." The hundreds of quotes Marvin had heard about man being the only true monster echoed in his head at that. "A…package, was sent to the _Aurora_. I'm not positive what it was, but we need to get on—"

Frantic shaking of his head. "Nope. Not happening." Marvin paused for a few moments to pull a water bottle and nutrient bar out of one of the lockers, passing them both off to the officer before continuing as Keen glared daggers at him. "I already tried, okay? Fuckin' thing's surrounded by radiation. If you're up for a suicide mission, then sure, go for it, but otherwise I suggested planting your ass right here."

"Yes," Henrik added as he wrapped bandages around Jackie's leg—had his already cleaned it? "It sounds like you were…_otherwise occupied _on the island, but we got a message shortly after returning. The ship's drive core is damaged."

There were an audible _thunk _as Keen tipped his head back to hit against the wall. A long sigh, then, "Brody. Would you know how to repair that?"

"Dependin' on the extent of the damage, I might be able to. But I'd need a radiation suit and I'm not goin' alone."

"If we get the suits, I'd go," Jackie offered.

Good, Marvin thought. _He _wasn't going anywhere near the ship with that Reaper so close to it. He shuddered at the thought. "How would we even get the suits?" He pulled his PDA off his hip and waved it around to prove a point. "We don't have the blueprint."

"We do, actually." Keen screwed the lid back on the nearly-empty water bottle and gestured to the PDA nearest him: Jameson's. "The radiation suit is under a specialized lock when our devices enter Emergency Mode. Our PDAs will release the blueprint only if they deem it necessary. So as much as I hate to say it, further damage to the drive core should help trigger it."

"Which would mean it could be beyond my ability to repair it, but we can at least get that data package."

"Yes."

"And…what about the radiation? Can't just leave the drive core damaged and leaking, can we?" Marvin gestured vaguely out the window before crossing his arms. "I mean. Personally I like not being radiation poisoned, but maybe that's just me."

Jackie and Chase both tried to stifle laughter while Jameson bit his lip and ducked his head. Keen only sighed. "We can only hope it doesn't reach this far, at least until we have the suits. With any luck, the damage might still be repairable to stop it entirely."

"That's reassuring."

"Okay, okay." Jackie prodded at the new bandaging on his thigh, wincing, and Marvin rolled his eyes when the security guard proceeded to poke at it _again_. "Soooo… We can't do anything about the ship 'til the drive core takes a little more damage. That means we keep doing what we've been doing and gather supplies, right?" He hissed when Henrik moved to start cleaning the shredded soles of his feet, nearly kicking the doctor and earning a harsh glare. "But somethin' I've been wondering since the island… Keen, why didn't you just jump off the bridge into the bay? I mean. You threw your PDA from there, right? You could'a just gotten away."

The officer's eyes dropped to the floor. He looked…genuinely upset as he shook his head with a soft sigh—fingers picking at his remaining sleeve, shoulders slumped, head bowed low. "The CTO and I got on the island from a different beach than the center bay's, one more on its southern side. We remained at the surface for the entire trip there—I didn't even realize it was floating until I left with you and Brody.

"When we reached the bridge, the CTO was already wounded and we didn't know the bay passed through the island. I thought we would be trapped if we jumped down there, so we chose not to risk it." He closed his eyes and tipped his head back against the wall. "I see now that had we jumped in the bay, Yu would still be with us."

"Nothing we can do about now," Marvin said. He moved back to one of the lockers to grab the officer more water, then blinked when he was met by the sight of the PDA. He'd totally forgotten Jameson had put it in a locker. With it and another water bottle in each hand, he went to kneel at the officer's side. "Just drink and eat. And then try to sleep. Fuck, you look like you need it."

Keen tried to glare, but it fell away as he took the items offered to him.

"For now, we should just keep doin' what we've been doing." Chase's voice echoed slightly; he had his head in one of the lockers as he pulled supplies out. Marvin recognized them as the ones for a divesuit. "We'll let Keen rest up—could I take your PDA quick? Thank you—while we just keep gatherin'. Once the rad suit's unlocked, Jackie and I can head to the ship."

When the fabricator finished the new suit, Chase gave both it and the PDA he'd taken (to make sure it got the correct sizing, if Marvin was to guess) to Keen. The accents on the new suit were a light gray. The entertainer really had to wonder if the colors were associated with sizes, or more so for ranks or positions on the ship.

"So…" Marvin ran a hand through his hair, frowning as his fingers caught tangles. "Our only plan right now is wait for the drive core to…I don't know, blow up?"

Chase just rolled his eyes. "Dude. It's not gonna blow up."


	19. The Aurora

**Warnings:** _Swearing, Arguing, Knives_  
Characters: Chase Brody, Marvin the Magnificent, Second Officer Keen, Jackieboy Man (briefly), Dr. Schneeplestein (briefly)  
_POV: Chase Brody_

_ (( hiiii it's been a while oops- I have a new hyperfixation, so working on Ego stuff has actually gotten pretty difficult, but I'll do my best to update this whenever I'm motivated to do so! ))_

* * *

"_Warning: Local radiation readings suggest the _Aurora's _drive core has reached critical state. Quantum detonation will occur within two hours."_

"…Hey, Chase. Remember what you said yesterday? That thing you were so confident about? What was it you said again?" Marvin asked as he glared down at his PDA. His diving mask was pushed up on his forehead while he treaded water with his free arm.

The repairman's groan was muffled by his mouthpiece as he ducked his head under the surface to avoid his companion's glare. That had to be literally one of the _worst _things to be wrong about.

A hand on his suit dragged him back above the surface, then moved to pull his mask off. "C'mon. What did you say?"

"…That the _Aurora _won't blow up."

"That the _Aurora _won't blow up, right! And what's about to happen?"

"…The _Aurora's _gonna blow up?"

"The _Aurora's _gonna blow up!" Marvin grumbled something under his breath, then with the flat of his palm smacked the water with a curse. "Just great! Wonderful! Let's get back to the goddamn habitat."

Both men pulled their masks back down over their faces and began the swim back with the materials they'd gathered to add to the growing collection. Chase could feel the dread in the pit of his stomach the whole way there, the worry, the "what ifs" lingering in the back of his mind. He was a repairman, not an engineer. Hopefully the damage wouldn't be as severe as the warning made it sound…

When they entered the habitat, the drainage system seemed to take ages before they were finally able to push the bulkhead open. Both Seaglides were tucked out of the way along with the supplies, then Chase cast his eyes around the too-cramped room.

Jameson, already on his feet and moving to start putting the new materials away in their respective lockers. Henrik, tending to Jackie's injury again while cussing him out over something. Keen, rubbing at his chin while he scowled down at his PDA's cracked screen. It wasn't long before his eyes shifted from the device, up toward Chase and Marvin. He pursed his lips, then, "Quantum detonation. We don't know the shape that will leave the ship in."

"And?" Marvin asked.

"_And, _for all we know, it could take out the computers that the data package was sent to."

"Well…actually," Chase interrupted, "detonation's gonna be in the drive core, right? The drive core and some of the major computer systems are pretty damn far from each other. Multiple walls between 'em—hell, they're even on different levels, and the computers get their power from multiple places throughout the ship just in case one or more of its sources goes down. Long as the entire ship doesn't decide, 'Hey! Fuck this shit!' then the package should be okay, even if I can't repair the drive core."

"Okay… How're you so sure while Keen's worried, thought?"

"Hey, no offense to Keen, but _I'm _the repairman. I've been on every level and in every room of that damn ship to fix shit no one else could be bothered with. _He _was one of the highest ranking officers there. Doubt you even set foot in the engine room or JJ's cafe, like, _ever, _did ya?"

"…He's right." Keen nodded, tucking his PDA away. "Brody likely knows the layout of the ship better than anyone, save the engineers who built it. It you believe the main computers will be safe, I'll take your word for it, then."

One hour ticked by. He, Marvin, and Keen were now sticking close to the habitat as they gathered materials. Going inside during detonation would probably be the safest bet, right?

Fifteen more minutes. Marvin had already gone in to start getting more power cells and batteries crafted, leaving the officer and Chase to continue scavenging just a little while longer.

At half hour to detonation, they both made their way back into the habitat to join the others. Time seemed to stretch for ages as they sat around in tense silence—Jameson was chewing his nails, Marvin played with his hair, Chase couldn't help the anxious tapping of his foot.

All six PDAs gave a warning beep that had Chase jumping even as he'd been expecting it. They echoed one another in an eerie monotone, each survivor moving away from the window as the words droned from their devices.

"_Emergency: A quantum detonation has occurred in the _Aurora's _drive core. The reactor will reach a super critical state in T-minus ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five—" _Chase closed his eyes and scrunched his fists into the fabric of his dive suit, _"—four, th-three-ee-ee, t-t-two-two…"_

Even underwater, even inside the habitat, he could feel the shock wave from the explosion rip through the water around them: The way it threw sand up at the window, the habitat creaking, lights flickering, projectile shrapnel from the ship itself clanging as it hit the shallowly submerged habitat hard enough that in one spot off in the corner if even started a leak.

Then, it was over.

Just like that, everything went quiet as the survivors took a collective breath. So quiet, Chase grimaced when their PDAs chirped again with, _"For your convenience, the radiation suit has been added to your blueprint database."_

Chase actually found it in himself to snort. "…At least one good thing comes outta that."

"I'm almost scared to see the ship, now." Jackie's voice, through gritted teeth, as he winced with every step toward the window. Not like looking out of it would do any good. Not with the sand disturbed. It would be a while before the water was clear again in their shallows. "I mean, that had to be some explosion, right?"

"Doesn't matter. I've gotta go and at least try to repair the drive core."

"Well, I'm goin' with you."

"To hell you are!" Henrik scoffed. "You can barely stand and the water is no good for your injuries, Mann!"

Marvin shook his head even as he gathered up supplies from the lockers for the new blueprint. "Like hell am I going anywhere near the ship. I'm not dealin' with a Reaper again."

"I'm not goin' alone! Someone's gotta watch my—"

"I'll go." Keen was already at the fabricator that Marvin had put the supplies on, letting it read his PDA so it could get the sizing for the new suit correct. When Chase opened his mouth to protest, the older man simply put a hand up to stop him there. "I slept through the night and most of the morning—I'm rested and my injuries were minor. I'll accompany you to the ship."

The suits were heavier than their previous ones, but not n a way that hindered them as much as Chase had expected. The only downside was that the flippers were smaller—stiffer—but he supposed that would be good for when they got onto the actual ship and couldn't take the flippers off unless they wanted radiation poisoning. Regular ones would have had them falling on their faces on dry land. The helmets also had a wider field of vision from the masks or rebreathers, and no mouthpiece so they could speak while keeping them on—another plus.

"One of you should take the Seamoth, and the other use a 'Glide," Marvin said as he handed both of them fully-charged Seaglides. "The 'Moth's a bigger target, but also a lot faster. If the Reaper goes after one of you, it'll chase whoever's in that, and it'll have a better chance at escaping. Then the one with the 'Glide can get past safely."

"With any luck, we won't run into one of these 'Reapers' at all."

"Heh. Be nice if somethin' goes our way for once, huh?"

A final nod to their companions, one last supply check (survival knives, extra batteries, laser cutter, scanners, first aid kit, repair tool—all accounted for), and they pulled the bulkhead open, waited for the teeny little corridor between it and the hatch to flood, then left the habitat.

Keen was the one to take the Seamoth, leaving Chase to trail behind. Smoke still rose from the ship as they approached, there were pieces of the hull that looked like they were barely held on by a few bolts, and the water was so murky from the disturbed sand that he couldn't see his own hand in front of his face and could barely tell which way was up when completely submerged.

It made the knowledge that there was a massive creature, somewhere out there, all the more terrifying. It could be swimming inches away from them and they'd never even know it.

The first time Chase heard the Reaper's cry, he could have sworn his blood turned to ice right then and there. His breath caught in his throat, even as he realized the sounds were from far off. So far, it seemed the last few hundred yards to the ship would go without incident.

That didn't change the fact that it was the most terrifying sound he'd ever heard and didn't dare duck his head under the surface.

Ahead of him, the Seamoth sped up slightly before falling back again (hesitantly) so he could actually keep up. Keen had heard it, too.

They hugged the side of the ship when they finally reached it, searching for any points of entry that may have been torn into it. It didn't take long to find one: The entire front half of the _Aurora _had been ripped apart by the explosion, and Chase's stomach twisted. He really hoped they wouldn't find any bodies once they got on board.

"_Warning: Ship's structural integrity is low. Fire suppression equipment and laser cutters may be required. Exploration is conducted at your own risk."_

"Thanks, PDA…" Great. They'd forgotten fire extinguishers. At least they'd been plentiful on the ship—they had a good chance of stumbling across one in their time aboard.

Keen parked the Seamoth as shallowly as he dared on a sloped piece of metal that would have to act as their ramp into the ship. They both hauled their Seaglides up under one arm, survival knives in the other. There were Cave Crawlers everywhere… A part of Chase told him that human bodies would probably be nonexistent with those things on board, and it took everything he had not to gag at the thought.

"Don't let them rip your suit," the officer demanded as he used his Seaglide as a bludgeon on one that lunged at him. It fell stunned at his feet, only for him to kick it off into the water. Chase would have snorted if not for the unease that settled over him as he got a good look at the smoldering remains of the ship, at twisted metal, at collapsed floors that used to be rooms and command center.

The repairman swallowed, holding his knife close as they continued up the "ramp" that he was starting to recognize as the floor that should have led straight to command.

"What do you think we'll find on board?"

"…I don't know. Let's just worry about the drive core first."

"Right. Yeah, okay."

It was easy to find, once they got past all the crabs and into the ship, once they helped each other clamor over too-heavy crates that had fallen in the way of one of the corridors. H eknew the ship's layout from bow to stern, after all. Now…

Now Chase could only frown as he looked down into the water that had flooded the drive core room. There were…_things _in there. Swimming about, attacking one another…

He pulled his scanner from his hip when one came close enough to the platform—the scanner dubbed them "Bleeders"—and then glared at all the damage he could see from where he stood. They kind of reminded him of cuttlefish. It wasn't as bad as he thought it would be—he even figured it should be fairly easy to repair from what he was seeing—but if those Bleeders tore his suit..?

When he turned to Keen, the older man had his hands on the railing, eyes fixed on one of the creatures as it circled near them, clearly trying to figure out how to get at them. "They're like leaches," he said without looking to Chase. "Had one attack me when I left my lifepod. Don't let them latch on."

"Think you can keep 'em away from me while I repair?"

"I believe so."

They set their Seaglides near the door to keep them out of the way of feet and tools and knives and Chase got to work on the damage he could reach from the platforms, first.

Without looking away from his work, Chase asked, "So… What're we gonna do about that Sepse guy? Just…leave 'im here when we leave?"

"I hate to say it, but yes. He's been here alone for too long and attempting to get him on a ship off world would just put anyone involved in danger."

"Fair enough." One spot finished, he moved on to the next. He'd have to go in the water soon. "Got another question for ya: The rest of Sepse's crew. The Mongolians? Any idea how they ended up here? Marv thinks they were looking for habitable planets."

"Why they were here, no." Chase could tell by the sound of his voice that Keen had his back turned to him to watch the Bleeders beneath their platform. "It… But it's why we're here."

When he spun around to face the officer, he about caught his own finger with the repair tool. "…What do you mean by that?"

Careful with the knives, Keen crossed his arms with a sigh and shook his head. "The _Degasi _went missing a decade ago. To improve relations with the Mongolian settlement, Alterra gave the _Aurora _a secondary mission: To find out what happened to its crew. This system was its last known location, and we came close to the planet in an attempt to scan. That's the only reason we were equipped with diving gear and appropriate vehicles."

"So this…this…" Chase went to pinch his nose but only bumped the glass on his helmet. So instead, he threw his hands up, nearly catching Keen with his still-active tool. "Why didn't the rest of us know about this?! Some…secret fucking mission could be what kills us all!"

"It was meant to be a simple scan. But something happened, Brody. And I have a feeling what happened to us is what also brought down the _Degasi_."

"Doesn't fucking change the fact the rest of the crew should've known. That Mongolian emissary—Khasar?—_that's _why he was on board, wasn't it? So you could figure out what the hell happened and he could tell his people. Why the _fuck _would that be kept from the rest of us, man?"

"Because nothing was expected to come of it! If something _was _discovered we would have sent people down while the _Aurora _continued on its course to set up the phasegate. _This—" _he gestured at the flooded room around them, "—was never supposed to happen."

"Awesome. Good to know we're stranded 'cause someone was curious about a crew that went missing ten fuckin' years ago." He shouldered past Keen to move on to the next spot that needed repairing.

Curiosity killed the cat, Chase thought bitterly. He reached a hand up for the pendent at his throat, could feel it under the thick fabric of his suit. Someone else's curiosity could be what never let him see his kids again, dammit.

"…Did Doc know? He keep this shit from us?"

"No. Schneeplestein was too new to the crew. He was one of the few ranking officers who wasn't informed."

Chase shook his head and muttered under his breath, checked the battery on his repair tool—

"Brody—"

"Can it."

—and stepped off the platform into the water below. The nearby Bleeders immediately went after him but the super-heated end of the repair tool worked even better on them than he'd expected. It wasn't long before Keen was there with the knives so Chase could use the tool as it was actually meant to be used, however. Just focus on the job at hand for now, he told himself. Repair the drive core so you don't have to worry about the radiation.

It took a lot of time—a few hours, by Chase's estimation—before he was finally positive every leak in the core was repaired. Or…"repaired" since it wasn't like it would ever run again anyway. At least now the leak was stopped.

When they surfaced again, Chase was the one to take the leader after they'd snatched up their Seaglides.

"When we get back, you better fuckin' tell the others about the secret little mission that killed over a hundred people. Got it?"

He didn't give Keen a chance to answer, instead storming off for another part of the ship.

To the computers then, he thought. Let's see what that package is.


End file.
